Two Tails on Mobius
by Thrawny
Summary: Sonic and Tails relax after the battle of Angel Island. But their victory does not escape the ears of someone who is looking for her lost brother. Eggman is not idle either as he is devising another scheme to take the planet of Mobius for his own.
1. Chapter 1: Five Days After Doomsday

Author's notes:

Greetings friends. As most Sonic fans know, there are several different continuums in the Sonic Universe. I won't get into any debate regarding the validity of one or the other. But I will only say that this story does not belong to one particular line, but instead blends the best elements of all universes while minimizing plotholes and cliches. I call this universe Ando-Mobius.

I would also like to say that this story is not a work in progress, but 100% complete. Its fairly long, but not too long I hope. I will upload the chapters as I complete my final grammar pass. Enjoy and feel free to drop me a line.

* * *

Chapter 1: Five Days After Doomsday

The bright, golden sky was abuzz with life. A hyperactive wind pushed objects tiny and light actively through limitless space. As it combed its way through the the rocks of the distant mountains, plowed through the bellowing trees of the surrounding forest. Fading, autumn leaves were snatched from their branches and carried into the yellow field where a young farmer labored.

Another strong gust blew a leaf onto the forehead of this worker who brushed it off her sweat soaked fur. The fox turned and squinted her eyes at the sun.

"It's nearly four o' clock and I still have over half of this field to clear" she thought to herself as she turned back to her plot and picked her till back up.

But as she lifted her rake back up to stroke the ground, it slipped right out of her hands. The object made of carved wood and cast iron groaned as it slammed against the ground, making the fox jump as she tried to save her feet from the free falling rake.

Rather then picking it up again, she left it and began walking towards the looming tree line.

"I just need a break is all, and papa is on the other side of the farm" she whispered herself in assurance.

Lisa looked at her hands as she approached a nearby oak tree. Her peach colored, short lying fur covered the obvious friction induced burns and sores. Papa had promised to get her a set of gloves when she had returned one day with blisters so bad that she couldn't even open the door to their family cottage on the other side of the forest. But that was two years ago and money was always tight in her adopted family.

She finally gave into her protesting legs and sat down at the base of the tree. Her back was protected by an olive colored vest that her surrogate mother had made for here when she was nine. She crossed her legs, and allowed her bushy white tipped tail also wrapped itself around her feet. It didn't take much for the fox to warm herself from the incoming evening breeze. When she did, Lisa finally allowed herself to completely relax in both mind and body. Her eyes wondered across her half tilled field and looked at the mountain range beyond. Another loud gust came and Lisa felt the whiskers on her soft white muzzle flicker as air brushed across it. She closed her eyes and waited for the cold gale to pass her by, but instead she felt a soft flimsy object brush her uncovered shoulder. She opened her eyes back up and notice that a news paper had been carried by the wind right into her lap.

Lisa could feel excitement immediately surge through her body. She lived so far away from any big city, that it was a real treat to get any news from the outside world. It was the New Mobian Gazette, a paper printed by the nearest city called Novus Spes. She knew it as the only city on the planet where Humans and Mobians are able to coexist together in peace. It was also considered to be the most prosperous. As she finished straightening out the creases and folds that the wind had left the paper in she immediately recognized the first figure on the front page.

The world famous Sonic the Hedgehog! Also known as blue blur and the fastest thing alive. She had heard much of this nomadic hero and his talent to be in the right place at the right time. The article took up much of the first page as she read the headline

"Sonic Deals Dr. Robotnik His Greatest Defeat Ever from the Mystical Angel Island"

For ages, Angel Island was considered to be only a myth by scholars and historians. A device of Echidna folklore used to embolden the hearts of youth to seek for the impossible and the reminisce of the distant past. However, the evil Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik discovered the island when his menacing Death Egg crash landed on the island after a disastrous showdown with Sonic the Hedgehog. The madman, consumed with the desire for revenge and a thirst for power over Mobians and Humans, tricked the only remaining Echidna on the island into becoming his unwitting accomplice. He repaired his vessel and prepared to steal the ancient source of power on the island, all contained within a large emerald, to power his doomsday machine. If it were not for the bravery of Sonic, and the cunning of his two tailed fox friend, Tails, The Death Egg would be orbiting the atmosphere of Mobius today.."

Lisa stopped reading and looked back up at the picture to notice the two other figures standing beside the main hero. A haughty looking echidna stood slightly behind Sonic, his arms crossed with his violet colored eyes daring any onlooker to step closer. But to Sonic's right was a red and yellow painted biplane. And in front of it, was a bright orange fox who was timidly waving at the camera. Lisa instantly gasped as she noticed that he had not one but two white tipped fox tails protruding from behind him. She looked even closer, but despite the grainy quality of the printed picture, she could recognize a familiar glow emitting from the boy fox's bright blue eyes.

"Miles..." she whispered between her teeth.

* * *

"Sonic! Hey Sonic!"

The voice was calling from below the roof, where a blue hedgehog was quietly snoozing on. Sonic peaked open an eye to see the young fox calling his name from the ground. The hero of Mobius hopped to to his feet, but before he was able to join his best friend on the ground, the fox had already spun his tails together to lift himself up to the roof of his workshop.

"I think I've got it Sonic! Come on! Lets see if it really works!" Tails proclaimed brightly as he lifted up the source of all his excitement. The object was polished smooth and reflected bright gold in the afternoon Mobian sunlight. During the days of fighting Eggman in the heavens of the world, Tails had noticed just how fast Sonic lost his energy in battle. This started the determined little fox to find a way to deliver condensed chaos energy to Sonic no matter where he was.

"Here, catch." Tails said as he tossed the golden ring towards his buddy.

"Thanks" the hedgehog replied as he caught it in midair without a flinch. But the sudden warmth of the polished metal caused him to widen his eyes as he let out, "Whoa, this sort feels like holding a..."

"Chaos emerald" Tails finished Sonic's sentence with a proud smile.

"I invented a machine that can channel the energy that leaks off of a chaos emerald and contain it in this metal ring. You see the Stoltki theory of chaos mechanics says that the uncertainty factor of..."

Tails stopped in mid sentence as the deafening clap of a sonic boom shook the air around him. He reopened his eyes to see a bright blue streak progressing away from his workshop, perched on a seaside cliff of Westside Island. The fox immediately began to spin his two tails as he leaped off the roof in the direction of his friend.

"Wait up Sonic!" he yelled as he pushed himself faster and faster through the air thanks to the propulsion of his tails.

But Sonic was zoned from all else except for the raw energy that the golden ring fed him. Faster and faster he went through the jungle dodging trees and Mobians as he beheld this new creation.

"Watch it sunny boy!" yelled an angry, old Mobian Gorilla, who was struggling to sweep the porch of his hut deep inside the jungle.

"Sorry mister" Tails called out to the ape as he struggled to catch up with the blur in front of him. But despite this. Tails couldn't help but feel impressed with himself. The power ring was still infusing his friend with energy for a time far longer then he had calculated when designing it. He only hoped that...

BOOM!

A bright light temporarily blinded the fox as a secondary shock wave tipped him off his balance, causing him to fall chin first to the ground. Several minutes passed as Tails lied on the ground with his tails covering the top of his back and most of his head. He then lifted his head from the ground. While rubbing his fur covered chin, he opened his eyes.

"What happened?"

He thought in alarm as he found himself near the center of a large, smokes crater. Fragments of palm tree and stone littered the disaster area.

"Where's Sonic?"

Tails quickly jumped to his feet, but pain screamed from every nerve his leg causing him to fall back down to the ground. He fought hard to restrain the pain induced tears that were building his eyes as he wrapped both arms and tails around his throbbing legs.

"You OK little buddy?" called a familiar voice from behind the fox's shoulder.

Tails turned his head as he saw the blue hedgehog standing over him. Sonic was completely unscathed by explosion that had knocked both of them off their feet.

"I d-dunno" Tails replied he looked back down to his legs and continued, "My legs really really hurt."

"Can you still fly?" Sonic inquired.

Tails didn't answer, but instead began to spin his two namesakes together. Soon he felt himself lift back up off the ground. Sonic smiled and waved for his friend to follow him.

"I'm not quiet sure what happened. One second I was juicing faster then I have juiced for a long time, the next second, that ring started to glow really bright. Then shattered right in my hand."

Sonic halted to see that Tail's was hovering in midair. His face was in a form of deep concentration and the hedgehog could tell his little brothers mind was deep at work. But Tails eyes immediately locked on to Sonic's as he whispered,

"Chaos control..."

"Say what?" Sonic responded as he stared blankly back at the fox.

"You must have caused chaos control when you were running too fast. You were drawing so much energy from the ring that it destabilized the metallic bonds and imploded." Tails finished explaining as he landed back on solid ground. His legs were feeling a bit better.

"I'm really sorry Sonic, I should have thought about that when I was designing these" The fox apologized with his face staring at the ground.

"Hey, don't worry about it little guy. Its not like I'm hurt or anything." Sonic said in a futile attempt.

"But I could have hurt you. See, everyone thought that chaos control was just a crazy theory. Nobody has actually seen or caused one until just now. I'm going to have to think of another way to give you more energy in a fight." The fox replied as he began to walk back towards his workshop, a fresh wave of determination surging through his veins. Sonic shrugged and silently followed his best friend.

* * *

Stars both faint and bright pierced the limitless void. Their light, arriving from far off galaxies, reflected off the shiny, smooth panel of durasteel floating helplessly through space. It crashed into the side of a much larger metallic object, yet there was no sound in the airless vacuum. Yet inside the larger object, there were many sounds both loud and sinister. This particular object was no trivial piece of useless space trash, but the pitiful remains of the once feared Death Egg. And despite the devastation wrecked upon the space station by Super Sonic, some corridors deep inside the hulk maintained a seal atmosphere containing just enough oxygen to support life. It is in one of these passageways that a small robot traveled towards it untold destination.

That robot is clad in solid black. The steel with which he was built with was not rough, but beautifully polished so that it reflected the dim halogen lamps that lit the Death Egg corridors. Two treads allowed the machine to move forward at its fast pace, while giving support to its rounded posterior. Painted upon the black metal on its back was the egg head, Dr. Robotnik's signature emblem with the letters E.D.D.I.E printed just below it. One of the robot's four bendable arms was occupied with a small optical disk that wasn't any larger then a golf ball.

Having reached the end of the dark hallway, the mech was now standing before a large bulkhead. It rotated it rounded pyramid shaped head so that the large glowing red electronic eyes could gaze on the control panel nestled into the corridor walls.

"Unit 401 requesting access to sector 33" echoed the artificial voice of the robot. Green lines appeared in the area which would have been the mouth of a normal living being. The glowing lines adjusted their shape depending on the words that were being generated by the voice box of the complex computer buried inside of the machine.

"Password?" Replied the emotionless voice of the door control panel.

"Omlette" EDDIE answered. There was a sharp hiss as pistons began the task of moving the large slab of metal that separated the corridor from the room behind the door. EDDIE now moved into this room with a resumed fast pace.

The sound of laboring computers whirled around EDDIE as he traveled through. Many monitors displayed vital information about the remaining systems of the Death Egg. This auxiliary control by some lack of insight, escaped the wrath of the glowing yellow hedgehog in the last battle. EDDIE knew that this very nerve center was the temporary center of his master's operations. The robot never notice the dark shadow that was moving through the racks of computers until it stood directly in front of the him. The black clad robot screeched to a halt as its computers evaluated the shape.

In contrast to the wheeled worker robots, this one stood seven feet tall on two silvery metal feet. Its torso was clad in smooth blue metal, save for the chest which revealed the uncovered complex machinery inside the creature. Carefully sharpened blue metallic quills extended from the robot's back all the way to its cold, armored head. Glowing red eyes, similar to EDDIE's own eyes, protruded from its metallic skull. These eyes were piercing, as if they were reading hidden data running through the other black robot's processors. This particular machine, wrought directly by the hands of Eggman, was built for only one task, to destroy Sonic. The master had designated the number two to this creation, although he normally just called it Metal Sonic.

"What is your purpose in here unit 401?" Asked the cold voice of the blue clad robot as it towered above EDDIE.

The other robot could feel a growing sense of annoyance building in its artificial brain. This one fancied himself as the true champion of Robotnik. It even dared to call itself the masters right hand bot. EDDIE knew that he must avoid Metal Sonic's wrath.

"I have an urgent message for the master, one that will cause him great displeasure if it isn't delivered promptly." EDDIE said with a calculated edge of urgency added in his voice.

"The master is eating dinner right now unit 401, you may deliver it later" Replied the arrogant voice of Metal Sonic as it waved it sharpened fingertips towards EDDIE, shooing the lesser robot away.

"I repeat to unit 002, this data is most urgent and any further delay could result in punishment from our great master." EDDIE answered with distinct fear in his voice.

Metal Sonic remained standing there, its red eyes staring straight into EDDIE's. Several seconds passed as the deadly robot pondered its decision until it moved slightly over so that EDDIE could travel past him.

"You had best be carrying the secrets to immortality or the death certificate of Sonic the Hedgehog. The master will be enraged to have his favorite meal interrupted by another one of your foolish reports." Metal Sonic hissed as he allowed EDDIE to go ahead of him. EDDIE did not reply and continued to progress towards the inner room, followed closely by Metal Sonic.

EDDIE finally reached the chair which held the over sized body of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Its back was turned to newly arrived visitor of the room.

"Finally have desert do you? You better not have forgotten the cherries this time." Called the voice of the evil genius as he spun his throne around to face EDDIE.

The doctor had a drumstick in each of his fat hands and his mouth was busy chewing the cooked flesh that he had just bitten off of one them. His red overcoat that covered his bloated belly was stained with crumbs and spilled sauces. Fresh from yet another depressing defeat, Eggman had decided to celebrate it by adding another twenty pounds to his already overloaded frame. Tonight was no exception as the man sitting before EDDIE was going on hour three of his dinner.

"Oh, it's you!" He said with a hint of disappointment. Any fat boy deprived of his favorite sundae treat would have responded in this manner. But EDDIE held the optical disk out towards his creator as he said,

"Doctor Robotnik. The station's sensors observed a large explosion originating from the jungles of Westside Island nearly an hour ago."

Robotnik swallowed the food inside his mouth and frowned. However, Metal Sonic still standing EDDIE, shifted his weight from one ball bearing to another. If the machine had been equipped with lips, they would certainly be formed into a malicious smile. One that only comes from witnessing the apparent demise of another useless servant of his master.

"So! Why should I care about something like that?" Robotnik finally said through gritted teeth.

"It was caused by chaos energy Doctor." EDDIE responded, still holding the disk out towards his master.

"What?!?" the man yelled as his eyes widened with surprise. He immediately dropped both pieces of chicken and grabbed the disk from EDDIE. Robotnik slipped the transparent crystal into the computer terminal in front of him and hit a button. The light inside the command room dimmed softly as a massive holographic image appeared in the center of the chamber.

The image displayed the slowly rotating orb of the planet Mobius, just as it could bee seen if one looked out of the view ports of the Death Egg. But the computer started to zoom in on one of the many green spots on the planet surface. Rivers and lakes began to become clearer as the camera continued to zoom. Finally, the figures of two speeding anthropomorphic animals became visible. The figures were that of a blue hedgehog holding a glowing golden ring in front of him, followed closely by a bright orange fox.

"Watch closely Doctor" EDDIE warned as the recorded footage progressed towards the anticipated event.

Then, without warning, the entire room was filled bright light that made Doctor Robotnik shield his eyes. He looked again to see his foes lying in the middle of a massive crater, the golden ring that he had been wielding was no where to be found.

Robotnik once again narrowed his eyes and began to stroke his food caked, red mustache. A vicious smile began to spread across his face,

"So, Sonic's foxy little friend has found a way to harness chaos control. I must admit, I underestimated the kid. Not even I, the worlds greatest scientific genius has been able to unlock that secret."

"What shall we do Doctor?" EDDIE asked as the lights in the room returned to their previous state. The hologram in the middle was now focused on Tails, who was still lying unconscious inside crater.

Eggman was now on his feet, pacing back and forth through the room. His gloved white hand rubbed his many chins. The cogs inside the mad mans brain twisted and turned until he finally stopped to face EDDIE and Metal Sonic.

"Nothing for now. We have more important matters to attend to. The fur ball may have unlocked chaos control, but he certainly doesn't know how to use it"

He said while looking holographic image of unconscious Tails lying face first in the dirt."

"Doctor?" Metal Sonic responded, still not understanding his master's motives. Robotnik spread his arms out in the air and proclaimed,

"Sonic believes me to be dead, vanquished. We cannot blow that cover because for the science experiments of a mutated fox. Don't worry, I will acquire his secret all in good time. How goes the preparations for Operation Neodoria?"

"Industrial Centers Delta and Mu report they are at full operational capacity. They are still working to replace the armies lost on Angel Island. We should have ten legions ready on time. Also, Gamma station reports that they are ready to receive the first human and Mobian subjects for your new experiment."

EDDIE's voice echoed out as its artificial eyes gazed at a terminal in front of him.

"Wuhahahahaha" Robotnik cackled as rubbed his gloved hands together.

"Soon this entire planet will be mine, and my perfected models of Mobians and humans will worship me as their ruler. Metal, go now and initiate the next phase. See to it that we have good subjects for my plan."

"Yes Master." Metal Sonic said as he bowed and turned away carry out his orders.

Both Robotnik and EDDIE turn now to admire the blue and green surface of the Planet Mobius below them. Its inhabitants were still oblivious to the dubious beings orbiting above them.


	2. Chapter 2: Controlling Chaos

Chapter 2: Controlling Chaos

The sun had set long ago on the luscious Westside Island. A full and bright moon took its place in the sky, projecting silver ambiance upon the green jungle trees. Perched on the side of the cliff overlooking the Azura Ocean was a lonely house. Perhaps it wasn't so much a house, but a research lab and hanger that had a bed to allow the occupant inside to get an occasional wink of sleep.

Inside, sat Miles Prower. He was in the large room that was actually located below the house. It was the size of a human football field and served as a resting place for his Tornado biplane, a factory for constructing his inventions and a research lab. Tonight, Tails was working in the far corner of this hanger, sitting on the cold floor with his two tails curled around his abdomen. After surviving an explosion caused by chaos energy, his body was still very sore and screamed regularly at the fox to allow it to sleep. But Tail's mind was swarmed with a thirst for answers. On the walls in front of him were two large chalk boards. Both of them were covered in diagrams and mathematical equations.

"I designed battery for Sonic but instead I created a bomb..." The fox thought to himself as he rested his chin on his crossed arms, but keeping his anxious blue eyes focused on the equations in front of him.

"I just don't understand how that caused chaos control. Dr. Varda told me it's not even possible to induce chaos control. it's never been proven..."

Tails further twisted his face in confusion. He looked over at a small cluster of bookcases located next to his drafting area. Rising again to his sore feet, he walked over to the nearest bookcase to remove a spiral notebook from the top shelf. Two orange tails that seemed to be flowing in the wind were stamped on the cover; the official emblem of MilesTech. Tails started flipping through it while his eyes scanned each page for his query.

"Rats!"

The fox tossed the notebook onto a cluttered table behind him.

"The professor never said anything about this in his lectures. I guess I'm going to need to go to Mobotropolis and ask him myself"

Tails immediately took off towards his red painted plane. His walk turned into a sprint as fresh excitement flowed through the little fox's veins. He loved to build things and he loved to invent, but Tails always at his best when he was in the cockpit of the Tornado. Perhaps the only thing that made him happier was to be with Sonic on one of his adventure.

He hopped into the pilot's seat and immediately keyed for the engine to start. The large LCD panel in front of him glowed to life. The young aviator took a moment to simply admire his latest addition to his airplane. This beautiful screen was his interface to the brand new avionics flight system he just added. It included a state of the art radar, targeting system, auto pilot and even a...

"Hello Tails" Greeted a warm feminine voice that came from the cockpit speakers.

"Hey Fiona!" Tails responded brightly, "Get the Tornado ready, we are heading to Mobotropolis to see the professor."

"I doubt he would be awake at this hour." Fiona replied.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked, his face looked puzzled back at the screen. The image shown was that of a red, young female fox. She had short ruby hair, sparkling sapphire eyes and was dressed in a tight black leather leotard. The AI winked at her eye at her creator as she explained,

"It's 2 in the morning Tails my dear, working hard on a new invention? Or perhaps...another plane?"

Fiona now looked somewhat crossed, as if daring the fox to confirm her suspicion.

"'Course not Fiona, I'm working on those new power rings for Sonic. I can't believe it's already that late." Tails said with a slight feeling of embarrassment.

"No worries darling Tails, I'm sure Doctor Varda will be able to help you tomorrow" Fiona offered.

"Yeah, I guess I should go and get some sleep" Tails said, only to be interrupted by a loud growl from his furry tummy.

"And some food. Hey, is everything alright on the Tornado?"

Fiona looked around for a second or two and then reported,

"The fuel injector is showing a clog in chamber 4 and the Hellfires 2 and 3 need calibration. All other system are looking good."

Tails smiled back at his AI companion. While most pilots would feel frustrated over such a report, Tails felt excitement. It was another chance for him to get under the hood of his treasured possession, and nothing would stop Tails from having the best plane on Mobius.

"Well, I guess I'm heading off. See you tomorrow Fiona." Tails said.

Fiona blew a kiss at him and the screen flicked off. Tails decided to use his namesakes to fly himself to the other end of the room. There, a metal door moved aside to reveal a small elevator that Tails used to travel to and from his workshop. As soon as he was inside, he pushed a button on the lift car wall and the machine propelled him back up to the surface. When car door opened again. he walked into his kitchen.

"I wouldn't be half as scrawny as I am if I spent even a third of the time I spend downstairs actually cooking a proper meal." He thought to himself as he moved through his depressingly barren kitchen.

Tails opened the door of his refrigerator a pulled out a half dozen precooked chili dogs and heaved them into the food warmer. He waited impatiently and even pondered returning to his lab to create a machine that would generate steaming hot chili dogs on demand. But a sharp ding from the warming oven signaled that it had completed its task. Tails swung the compartment door open and began devouring the dogs one at a time.

Sharp stabs of pain continued to issue from his stomach, punishing the fox for daring to ignore its incessant demands. Tails finish his last chili dog with a loud belch and started up the stairs to his bedroom. It was small and spartan, consisting just of a messy bed and small table beside it. Tails kicked off his shoes and hopped under the covers. And just as he pulled the chain to turn off the only light on the room, his eyes caught glimpse of a framed photo beside the bedroom lamp.

* * *

Two thousand miles away however, night had already passed, leaving a clear dawn to greet the inhabitants of Northern Melia. Inside one many cottages that dotted the valleys of the highlands that composed of most of the area, a badger was whistling. The small electric powered stove was burdened with pots and skillets, each contained what would soon be a hearty Mobian breakfast. Her apron was dark purple, with white lace embroidered along the sides. She grabbed a set of mittens beside the stove and used them to remove a tray of golden biscuits from the oven below. These, she dumped into a cloth lined basket, and carried into the next room.

There was simple table which seated an elderly male badger. He wore a rustic cream colored workshirt and was reading a newspaper spread out across the table. He pushed large gold rimmed spectacles up from his nose and took a sip of steaming coffee when his wife set the biscuits down on the table. She was the first note that the room was missing an occupant,

"Where's Lisa?"

"Right here mama" called a voice behind her.

There standing just over three feet was Lisa Prower, was her adopted daughter. The young fox had grown much since she had taken her in, standing tall over both her step parents. She constantly struggled to push the strands of her bangs out of sparkling blue eyes. But what made the badger fill with pride was the carefully crafted mind that hid within her head.

The adolescent vixen sat herself next to the elderly badger who gave her a warm smile. She snatched a biscuit from the basket and eagerly munched away like a famished hyena.

"Eat up dear, there is plenty more on there way" said Rosa as she winked at her step daughter and returned to the kitchen.

"Did you finish plowing the west fields yesterday?" The old badger pried as he peered at Lisa over the edge of his newspaper.

"Nearly half papa" Lisa replied in a low tone.

"What?! You were supposed to have that finished by the afternoon!" Yelled Lisa's surrogate father as he slammed down his news paper.

Rosa had returned to the table and dropped a large dish of eggs, bacon and potatoes. She looked at her husband and said,

"Now now Bent, Lisa works hard out there. She is only eleven for heavens sake."

"When I was eleven, I could plow two fields before lunch." Bent grumbled back as he helped himself to hot eggs and potatoes.

Lisa felt her hand reach up to her vest pocket. She looked warily around the table to her step parents who were both concentrating on their food. She opened the flap of the pocket and pulled out the carefully folder page inside of it. She began to unfold it as she cautiously called out,

"Mama, Papa...I, well...I found this yesterday..."

Rosa and Bent both looked up at her. Bent's eyes focused on the wrinkled page now lying on the table.

"The Novas Examiner? How dare you bring that human garbage to our table!" Lisa's step father cried out as he reached his hand out to snatch it. But Lisa was quicker then him and moved the page so that it was out of reach. Desperation quickly took her and she held up the picture of Sonic and team.

"Please Papa! Please hear me out! Look at this picture!" She said. Both of her step parents stared at the printed photograph. This time, her step mother spoke,

"Of coarse we have heard of Sonic dear. He has saved our people again from that human Ivo Robotnik. We certainly don't need a human newspaper to tell us about the champion of Mobians."

"But didn't you see who else is in the picture?" Lisa's finger was now pointing at Tails, "Its Miles! It has to be! That fox has two tails and is the same age as Miles."

The silence at the table made Lisa more and more nervous. After several seconds of this elapsed, Rosa lept to her feet and she wrapped her arms around Lisa.

"You poor dear. I know you miss him very much. But he's dead and no amount of wishing will bring him back. You have to move on."

Lisa was now in tears and between her sobs, she said

"But I know it's him mama. I just know it. They never found his body in the ruins. I have to go find him, he's my little brother and I love him."

"The house was completely engulfed in fire, it must have destroyed his body too. Its not your fault Lisa. Me and Bent have and always will be here for you. We are your family and we love you too. If you make the mistake of living in the past, you will forget about the present. The future will pass you by."

Lisa let out a few more sobs and then pulled away from her step mother. She looked at the badger's face and nodded in understanding. Then, the fox turned to leave the room while rubbing her tear soaked facial fur. Rosa picked up the dropped leaflet of the Nova Examiner, and placed it on the table. Bent and her exchanged serious glances as they both thought the same thing.

Lisa was in her room now, trying to put on her worn leather boots. But such a simple task seemed to be beyond her as the fox's mind was drifting beyond the confines room:

Screams and mayhem permeated the night. A small fox not older then six was standing on a gravel street as throngs of Mobians ran past her.

"Get another line on that roof!" Yelled spotted Mobian hound who's forehead was covered by a black and yellow helmet. The silver badge of chief was set into his fire resistant jacket.

Two other fire fighters, a husky and crocodile wearing similar attire tugged another fire hose closer to the burning structure. Six year old Lisa Prower kept looking around, trying to find a familiar face in the masses of people that were scurrying around her. The street was littered with debris and many Mobians both young and old were doing their best to avoid tripping as they fled. Lisa now looked to the direction from which they were coming from and sudden deathly explosions sent two large pillars of flame reaching towards the sky. The fox judged that they were coming from the production district where her daddy had his workshop.

"Eggman forces have taken the docks! Move towards charlie and delta points, we must stop them there!"

Lisa stepped back to avoid being trampled as twenty MSF soldiers jogged past her. They were of various species, but all of them were wearing solid black jump suits. Their helmets were also jet black and the goggles covering their eyes glowed eerie green in the night. Some of them were loading metallic canisters in their rifles as they ran behind their commander towards the threat in the north. The little fox couldn't take it anymore, fear had overcome every ounce peace in her body. She closed her eyes and screamed,

"MOMMY! DADDY! MILES!"

But her cries went unanswered. Lisa reopened her eyes and began to run around the busy fire fighters and onlooking neighbors, crying out the names of her missing family. Frustrated tears began to form in her eyes.

"LISA!"

The fox cub turned her head to see two older Mobians running to her. Without a second thought, she ran towards them and jumped into the arms of her mother, sobbing in happiness.

"Thank Ando you're safe!" Said the overjoyed vixen as she held her child tightly.

But Amadeus Prower was looking around for something, or, someone.

"Where's Miles?" he asked.

Lisa looked up at her father in surprise.

"I don't know daddy. I looked around and couldn't find him. I thought..I was hoping he was with you." the fox said.

"OH MY GOD!" Rosemary screamed as she nearly dropped Lisa.

"MILES!" Amadeus yelled as he and his wife charged towards their burning house. Lisa also tried to charge after her parents but a Mobian firefighter saw her and restrained her.

"Noo, please, I need to find Miles!" She screamed as the husky held her back. She now noticed that part of the roof was falling, every inch of it was consumed by hungry flames.

"GET THEM OUT OF THERE! THE ROOF IS GOING TO GO!" Ordered the fire hound in a panic.

Several firefighters sealed their faces behind oxygen masks and ran at full speed towards the blazing house, but they were two late. The wooden roof of the house fell to the ground sending smoking embers high into the sky.

Lisa screamed at the top of her lungs and her desperate thrashing made the firefighter that was holding him nearly loose his hold on the fox. But the fire chief moved quickly to help his comrade hold the child back.

"There's nothing you can missy! You would only get hurt if you went over there!" he said in her ear.

"NOOO!" Lisa fell to the ground crying. She remained there, rocking her self as she continued to say the names of her mother, father and brother. All them were now dead.

It took another two hours to extinguish the flames. A charred rubble was all that remained of Prower house. The firefighters immediately moved on to fight the many other blazes caused by Eggman in the town, where other families would also be separated forever. The fire chief eventually returned that night to find Lisa was still lying on the side of the road. The fur around her eyes was still tear stained as she remained in a state of unrestful sleep. The hound picked her up and carried her to the fire station. She remained there through the night and the next day, two badgers awoke her. The older female held her as she cried when they confirmed to her that she was the only living member of her family left, and that they would take care of her from now on.

Lisa reopened her eyes. For five years, her step parents did take good care of her. She knew that she owed so much to them. But, when she would stay up late at night to look at the stars from her window, she would think about her little brother. She did this with him many nights before in the great forest behind their house. They would lie on their back in a clearing of oaks, starring at the heavens. He often would tell her of how he dreamed of building a ship to travel among those stars, just like the humans that had come to Mobius. The glow behind his eyes told her how serious he was about his dreams and how much he loved his older sister. It was her observation of the stars that always made Lisa feel like Miles was still there, looking at them with her.

Lisa got up from her bed and grabbed a weather worn leather backpack from her messy closet. In there, she placed her few possessions. A Mobian AR109 pistol that had belonged to her father in the Mobian-Human wars. Usually wielded by officers, her father had commanded a company of infantry during the battle of Doria, the battle that ended the war. He kept this treasure, hoping to give it to Miles to remind him of the sacrifice made by that battle for peace. It had been sent to Lisa in a charred chest that had survived the fire by one of her neighbors. Next was a wool blanket, which she planned to cover herself on the many nights she expected to spend finding her lost brother. She also folded a map of Mobius that she had pinned on her wall and placed into into the pack. Last, she retrieved what little money she had from her small desk drawer along with the only picture she had of her lost family. These, she placed inside her breast pocket in her olive vest.

"I'm coming for you Miles. I will find Sonic the Hedgehog, and make him tell me where you are." Lisa whispered to herself as she poked her head into the hallway outside her bedroom door.

The cottage was now silent as it was obvious to the young fox that her step parents had gone to the fields to plant for the next harvest. Lisa passed though the dwelling for the what could be the time, and stepped out the front door. There was a signpost down the path on the main road. One arrow pointed to a long road that lead to the mountains and was Labeled "Novus Spes". The other, which almost seemed to be written in the handwriting of Lisa's stepfather was labeled "South Downs".

Lisa paused for a moment, thinking of her step parents and how she did not want to cause her loving family any grief. But the image of her little brother standing next to Sonic strengthened her resolve, and she took the path into the mountains. The fox sang softly to herself as she journeyed on.


	3. Chapter 3: Terror in Mobotropolis

Chapter 3: Terror in Mobotropolis

The streets and parks of Mobotropolis were alive with Mobians of all species. Mothers walking their children to school and men wearing suits and ties talking on their mobile communicators as they hustled to work. The city was filled with laughter, music and limitless energy as a new day unfolded. The crystal blue waters of the Omuwen river flowed through the heart of the metropolis. The buildings were of chiseled white stone quarried from the nearby Sur Mountains. Yet the beautiful architecture was almost entirely hidden by the vast foliage of trees, vines and bushes that the Mobians allowed to grow freely through their fair city. Small barges carried grain from Doria, wood from Tiberia and ore from the Sur straight to the craftsmen of the city. This never seemed to disrupt the youths, who still fished off of the many bridges or swam through the frigid currents.

Being the trade center and seat of government of the the Mobian Republic, It housed the great marketplace of Omowen. Here, a Mobian could purchase anything possible if he or she had the right amount of shemmings, the most widely accepted currency in the republic. Deep in this market place spread across several acres, a blue hedgehog walked happily among the crowds.

Sonic watched his fellow citizens hard at work or shopping. In front of him, an elder boar was sanding a newly crafted chest of drawers which he had wrought from maple. He smiled at the passing hedgehog and resumed his concentrated work. The smells of a neighboring stall drew the blue hero to it. There, he joined several Mobian children who were all watching gray and white rabbit flip the pastries on a grill in front of her potential customers. They smelled like sweet cinnamon with honey, she took several away from the heat and placed them inside a lined basket. Then she looked up at her audience and immediately recognized the taller figure amongst the children.

"Sonic! I can't believe its you! Do you want to try a pasty?" she said brightly as she held the basket out to the hedgehog.

"Sure!" Sonic replied as he reached into the basket to retrieve a warm one. He bit into the baked dough and gave the rabbit a solid thumbs up.

"Now that's a good pasty!" he proclaimed. The children around him all cheered as the realized they were in the presence of the blue blur. Several older Mobians came over to the growing crowd to shake the Sonic's hand and get a photograph. The Rabbits who ran the pastry stand were particularly delighted with this and the female rabbit immediately called out,

"All hail Sonic! The fearless hero who saved us from the Death Egg and a great fan of my honey baked pasties!"

This had the desired effect, as several Mobians produced the polished silvery shemmings needed to purchase a batch of these now hero endorsed baked sweets. However, an abrupt explosion brought these all of these activities to a halt.

Screams now replaced the voices of bartering and laughter. Sonic shot a look in the direction of the noise to see smoke and shards of broken glass coming from a nearby building.

A coyote, clad in sleek black with the patch of MSF sewn on his shoulder came running up to the hedgehog.

"Sonic, there are humans holding up the New Mobotropolis Bank! They have two Titan bots blocking the entrance. Bombs too!"

Sonic immediately took off running, and the previously frightened inhabitants of the market all cheered loudly as they saw their hero go into action.

The ten block distance from the Omowen market to the financial district took only fractions of a second for the speedy hedgehog to traverse. The New Mobotropolis Bank was a grand look building, modeled after human architecture save for the trees that grew inside the buildings open air atrium. Several dozen MSF officers had formed a blockade around the building. Sonic looked around for the large robots that the coyote had mentioned, but they were nowhere to be found. What did greet the hedgehog was a large barrage of gunfire from the guns of the unseen robbers within the bank.

Sonic chucked at this has he took off at a great speed towards the bank, dodging the bullets hurling at him. His great speed help him scale the wall and he landed on the roof.

A block away, another pair of eyes spied on the hero's actions through a pair of enhanced binoculars. It quickly raised a comm and its electronic voice called to those on the other end.

"The hedgehog has arrived. Proceed with the plan. Ensure that you are not discovered. Sting and Peril, move in on the target. He is located on the roof."

The comm was replaced on the belt that was clamped around the polished blue metal of the figure. The machine then pulled its cloak closer and returned to peering at his enemy like a famished wolf wishing to pounce on its prey.

Sonic had reached the edge of the open air atrium where the tellers of the bank would be located. There, he saw them. They were split into a smaller groups, all of them Mobians, tied around the many trees that blossomed in the center of the bank. Their captors paced around them with lethal rifles pointed at the prisoners.

"Sonic's here! We must move to phase two!" yelled a human who came running into Sonic's view. The man looked a bit older then his comrades, and had an aura of authority about him. Sonic smiled, and knew what he had to do. But before he could act, the roof shuddered under the stress of new weight.

He turned to see one of the missing Titan bots facing him. It's deadly Medusa cannons pointed threateningly at him. Another deep rumble and Sonic saw the other one land directly behind him. He was cornered. But this was not the first time that he had faced a Titan bot, and with his eyes fixed on the weak, lower torso of the machine, he flipped up into the air and began to spin.

The robots were prepared for this and before Sonic was spinning fast enough, they fired two beams located near the top of their eyes. These were not instruments of destruction, but energy emitters that projected a powerful force field around the hedgehog.

Sonic did not notice this before he released his spin at his deadly foe. But the force field stopped him in mid air and the blue hero fell back to the surface of the roof.

"What the hell is this?!" He yelled as he pushed both his hands against the translucent red force field wall.

Realizing now that he was really trapped, he grinded his teeth. Looking at the artificial eyes of the Titan in front of him. The rage was slowly building in the hedgehog as he envisioned the revenge he would inflict upon them. But suddenly, the eyes of the robot he was glaring at exploded. This was accompanied by another burst of fire from the right torso of the machine as it fell over engulfed in flames. The force field surrounding Sonic faded and the hero looked up at the red plane that swooped over his head.

"Wohoo! Way to go Tails!" Sonic yelled at the plain with a thumbs up. The other robot opened up with its cannons but Sonic was quick on his feet, running a circle around the massive robot and then slamming into a spin straight through its feet. The Titan Bot toppled over and burst into flames like its partner.

High above, Tails swooped the Tornado around.

"The missiles aren't accurate enough to hit anything inside the structure Tails. I would be careful..." Said the digital image of Fiona inside the cockpit of the Tornado. Tails smiled and said,

"Don't worry, I'm going to go down their to help him myself. You ready to take over the Tornado?"

"Affirmative"

Tails then jumped out and over the side of his beloved plane. It took only a moment for him to spin his tails fast enough to break his fall and land gently on the top of the roof. Fiona, continued to circle the Tornado around the block, wishing she could do more to help her master and creator.

Tails ran up to join Sonic, who stood there waiting for him.

"Ready to kick some ass little bro?" Sonic asked with a cocky smile.

"You bet!" Tails said as matched Sonic's smug smile and flexed his muscles challengingly.

"I'll keep them distracted. We need to get those innocent folks out of there before we get the robbers."

Tail's met his friend's words with a nod. And Sonic then leaped over the edge and into the atrium below.

A middle aged female squirrel was seated on solid earth, her hands ached from being tied so tightly to the palm tree planted in the center of the banking room. She hummed softly to herself, trying to not think about the masked humans that paced around her. But as soon as she felt a hard thud on the tiled floor in front of her, she open her eyes to see a blue hedgehog standing in front of her.

"Its Sonic! We are all saved!" She screamed out. The other Mobians, also bound to the atrium foliage, cried out in relief. The terrorists acted quiet differently.

"Get him!" Shouted one of the humans as he aimed his rifle at the chest of the intruder.

Sonic counted five humans in the room. All of them formed a semi circle around the new intruder with their fingers on the trigger. Sonic merely smiled at this and crossed his arms saying,

"Hey guys, you sure we can't work something out so none of you get hurt?"

"That's funny coming from the guy without a gun! You can't stop us Sonic and we will teach you to never interfere with the master's business." Growled the leader who continued to adjust his aim on his blue foe.

"Master huh? You guys sure don't have the brains to pull of anything half decent on your own. That's for sure." Sonic answered with a laugh.

"Enough of this! FIRE!"

The command was followed by an onslaught of gunfire, but these bullets never found their target. Sonic had already taken off running towards the leader at full speed, dashing past a gap in their semi circle with a laugh.

"Your gonna have to be faster then that to get me!"

"Don't let him get away!" Shouted one of the other gunmen as they chased the blue hedgehog to the other end of the atrium, away from the prisoners.

The squirrel sighed in relief. She only hoped now that she could get untied and away from this place. The sound of swirling air and lighter thud against the tiles made the young female notice she had another visitor. A fox stood in front of her, a fox with two tails.

"Who are you?" She asked as she stared at him.

"My names Tails and I'm here to rescue you." The fox introduced himself as he produced a sharp utility knife. It took only a minute for Tails to cut the ropes off of all the prisoners. While they were glad to be free, they were curious about their new hero whom none had heard of before. Another fox who must have been no more then four years old immediately asked,

"How come you've got two tails?"

"I honestly don't know. But lets talk later, I need to get you all out of here." Tails replied as he waved for them to follow him towards the entrance to the building.

The sounds of gunfire and small explosions still echoed through the room as the terrorists vainly pursued Sonic. Tails and the freed prisoners were almost free until they reached the front entrance, were a sixth guard was positioned. This human was watching the street for any authorities who wanted to storm the building, but the sound of footsteps behind him caused the man to turn around.

"The prisoners are escaping!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The man brought his rifle at aim to the fleeing Mobians, but a deafening snap resonated through the air.

The man was shocked to find his weapon, made of titanium, was split in half. The cause of this was now standing right in front him. Tails poised his namesakes to swipe at the man again if he dared threaten his fellow Mobians.

"You furry little brat. How dare you! I'll make you pay for that!" He growled through his gritted teeth as he tossed the pieces aside and lunged towards to shorter opponent. The fox responded by swiping his tails, this time aimed at the mans feet.

But this human was ready for that and jumped into the air just in time to avoid being knocked to the ground. His fist, which was destined for the vulpine's face went straight into the stone wall as Tails moved out of the way.

"Go! I'll keep him busy!" Tails shouted at the prisoners who were watching him fight. They all immediately took off running through the door towards the waiting MSF troopers.

The human terrorist had taken that brief opportunity to land a kick straight into the fox's soft tummy. The force of that blow sent Tails flying into a nearby wall, where he sat coughing. The human started walking towards him, having drawn a wicked long knife from within his boot.

"Lets see now if you furries really do bleed!" He cackled as he raised the knife. But Tails responded by punching the man straight in the jaw with every ounce of strength he had left.

"Owwwwwww" The fox screamed in reaction to the immense pain. The man laughed again, his chin showing no visible damage.

"Muwhahaha! The poor baby fox boy can't even hit like a girl! Look at him" The human was so consumed with malicious laughter that he dropped his knife onto the ground. Tails took his eyes off of his throbbing hand to look at the monster in front of him. Utter death was in those usually sweet blue eyes as the fox twisted his face into rage. And then it happened so fast, that nobody could have stopped him. The laughter was silenced.

And on the floor lay the man. Sliced in half at the stomach by another whip on the fox's twin Tails.

The rage, was replaced by fear as Tails realized what he had done. But as he was shocked to see the man on the floor, there was no blood. The two fragments of the man were shooting out sparks of electricity. Tails looked closer to see that there were no organs inside the fragments, but wires and metallic gears.

"It's robot" He whispered to himself, now understanding why his punch had done nothing but bruise his fist. The fox was also surprised with himself that his tails could slice through such thick metal. Tails also noticed that there was no more gunfire coming from the atrium that he had helped the other flee from. Hoping that his best friend was unharmed, Tails ran at full speed back into the room.

There he saw Sonic standing in the center of the room. A smug smile was on his face and his emerald green eyes gleamed with glory. Sonic flashed his sidekick a thumbs up,

"You alright there little buddy?"

"I-I think so." Tails answered while messaging his aching hand. He then saw the attackers who he was fighting all lying on the floor "What happened to them?"

"I really dunno..." Sonic replied with a shrug.

"They kept chasing me around the room, trying to run as fast as me, but one by one, they just dropped to the floor without a..."

Sonic was interrupted by a load groan from the floor nearby. Both heroes turned to see that a terrorist was staring at them. In his hand, was a black electrical device. There was a green LED glowing on the top of it.

"Must not be captured...Mission.......Accomplished!"

He forced out before his thumb released a trigger. The LED was now bright red. A steady electric beep was echoing through the empty atrium, Sonic dashed over to find a large and complicated looking bomb.

"Tails!"

Sonic's sidekick leaned over the device.

"It's too late Sonic, I don't have enough time to defuse it!" Tails cried out. He immediately lifted off the ground. Sonic grabbed hold of his arms as they both ascended into the air.

"Faster Tails! We need to get away." Sonic urged below him as he looked down at the doomed building below. His friend closed his eyes and concentrated on spinning his tails faster and faster until a heart stopping blast ruptured the silence. A large cloud of smoke instantly enveloped the airborne heroes.

He was coughing himself hoarse and unable to see, but Tails knew that he had escaped the fiery blast. His rear mounted appendages were slowly creeping with exhaustion.

"Just keep going forward little guy. I know your tired, but if you give up, we're both toast!" The hedgehog said now, as if he was able to read his friend's mind.

Tails breathed heavier and pushed himself onward, allowing raw determination to replace the fatigue in his body. And just when it seemed that Tails would be unable to fly anymore, he found himself coming out the large smoke cloud facing a large crowd of police and spectators.

Back on solid pavement, a great roar of applause came from the crowd of Mobians.

"Sonic has done it again! How can we ever thank him!"

"Wow! A fox that can actually fly? Where did you find one of those Sonic?"

Tails couldn't help it but smile shyly back at the crowd. Some of them were leaning close just to brush his fur or shake his hands. The the young fox truly felt appreciated by Mobians, who had previously mocked him. But Sonic was not a fan of large crowds and the pair shoved through the ranks and away from the disaster area.

Nearby, two angry red eye spied on the celebrating crowd. Although the primary objective had been accomplished, the creature felt enraged that his most dangerous foe had not been destroyed. Carefully laid plans and two very expensive Titan bots had not stopped the blue blur from interfering. His furry friend was certainly an underestimated menace that the observer would have to plan for in the future. Metal Sonic then drew his cloak closer and started down his escape route.

"Next time, I will get you Sonic and that mutant little brat will not be able to stop me..."

* * *

Gray eyes gazed through a panoramic window that stretched across the spacious office. The pupils of these eyes were ridiculously oversized by the magnification of the glasses that the man was forced to wear. Of the many joys he had of his post, Doctor Willard Varda enjoyed this view from the top of Mobotropolis University. It was from here that Varda was able to watch the pillar of smoke trailing from the financial district. A voice on the radio attempted to explain the cause of this disturbance.

"Reports are not fully clear. But it appears that a small group of Jar Head activists attempted to rob the New Mobotropolis Bank this afternoon. While it seems that a bomb has demolished the large bank, the heroic actions of Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower stopped any lives from being lost. The terrorists are all presumed to be dead. We go now live to the location..."

Varda lowered his head in disgust. He could not understand why his fellow humans were so inclined to perpetrate such violence against the Mobians. It was this misunderstanding that resulted in him being a professor at Mobotropolis rather then at New Gitmo Military Academy. He could not deny that his exile from the Human Nations had been for the best. Here, the Doctor had found more peace then he did at Gitmo. The average Mobian student in his classroom exceeded the brightest human boy that entered the academy. This is where he could freely research chaos mechanics and live away from the self imposed doom that his kin had wrought upon themselves.

A knock on the wooden office door disrupted the man's thoughts. He opened the door to be surprised by the two visitors standing in front of him.

"Sonic! Tails! I'm so glad to see you after hearing the news! Come on in and have a seat." He said while pointing to one of the plump couches in front of his desk. Sonic welcomed the man's offer and laid out across the sofa, using his arms to prop his head up as he relaxed. Tails followed him, but the professor noticed the lines of pain still in the face of the fox and said,

"Let me see it my friend."

With more trust then most Mobians would have towards human, Tails offered his right hand to Varda with no hesitation. Gently, the scholar removed the white glove and examined the flesh beneath the orange fur. Tails whimpered slightly as fresh shocks of pain traveled down his arm in response to the exam.

"I don't think it's broken dear boy, just a sprain. You should keep it wrapped up though." The doctor walked over to one of his many cabinets in the room and retrieved a roll of gauze tape. He then began to wrap Tail's hand carefully.

"You must have given those men a hard time Tails, You've learned a lot from Sonic." Varda commented as he wrapped.

Tails frowned and said, "Well, that's because they weren't really men. They were some sort of robots."

"No way!" Sonic blurted out as he sat up and reopened his emerald green eyes. Tails began to recount his struggle at the front of the bank.

"He had me cornered, and when I punched him in the jaw, it just made a load clang. I was then able to swipe him again with my tails. But he had no blood. Inside of him was just metal. But his skin looked so real. I've never seen anything like it."

"Maybe that's why the guys I was fighting inside the bank collapsed, they ran out of power. Haha, silly human machines!" Sonic responded with a chuckle.

Tails looked from his blue friend to Varda who had finished bandaging his hand. The scholar was thinking deeply. Wanting to share in the human's thoughts, he asked,

"What is it professor?"

"Well, before I was exiled, I had some exposure to current human robotics and the cybernetics research branch. And I will make it clear to you both, from the level they were at when I left, there is no way they could have produced something of the sophistication that you described. The Mira ruling family was especially interested in cybernetics, and they were unable to even get any machines to support an organic structure. If those terrorists were of human origin, then they must have gotten help. Maybe from Eggman."

Varda knew he had just said a very touchy name to his visitors. The mad scientist from the north was well known for having technology that far exceeded that of Mobians or Humans.

"Perhaps, if he were still alive." Sonic said.

"Are you're sure he didn't escape somehow. He has always managed to come back no matter how badly we beat him Sonic." Tails pursued his friend's confident declaration.

"The death egg blew up little bro, he tried to escape, but I destroyed his escape craft as well. I didn't see anything from the ship. It was consumed by chaos energy." Sonic explained.

Being the only first hand account of Eggman's supposed death, Tails had no choice but to believe the hedgehog.

"Well then. If Robotnik really is dead. Then maybe one of his lieutenants has taken over. Metal Sonic maybe..." Tails offered. Sonic shook his head again and explained,

"Ol' knucklehead sent word to me that after the master emerald was returned. That metal can tried to retake the gem with the remaining Eggman armies that were left on the island. He stopped him and destroyed the robot army."

Varda finally interjected,

"Either way, those attackers were very likely of Eggman design. You two must hurry and find out were those robots came from, who is controlling them and what that person is ultimately trying to accomplish. Sonic, I think Eggman's base and industrial centers would be the first place to start."

"You've got it! You ready for a new adventure buddy?" Sonic was already on his feet with excitement. Tails looked back at his brother and gave a thumbs up.

"Sure am Sonic. But wait a minute, I need to ask the professor something about chaos mechanics."

Sonic shrugged and then replied,

"I'll leave you two nerds alone and get a head start. First stop is the Scrap Brain. Meet you there Tails!"

Without waiting for a reply, Sonic took off out the door.

Tails laughed and explained to the professor,

"He hates it when I talk about anything technical. But I wanted to ask you about chaos control."

"Ah, very good Tails. You and the others don't know it yet, but that has been the focus of all my research the past few months while you were battling Eggman. There are a lot of holes in the theory that my colleague Edmund Stolki proposed. Chaos control is one of these."

"You see, chaos energy is not a waveform produced by chaos emeralds, It is in fact an energy field that originates at the center of the galaxy. Certain elements and err...lifeforms can absorb, control and unleash this energy."

"You mean Sonic?" Tails asked as his face was now lite with thirst.

"Yes. Sonic is an adept and his cells are able to collect, store and use the chaos energy that is in the air around us. That is why he has such great speed, his body naturally channeled this power to his feet to give him such a unique gift. Chaos emeralds are another example of objects able to store this energy."

"Well that makes sense then." Tails said with understanding.

"So back to chaos control. There are many ways that I think that a chaos adept can control chaos energy. In theory, you could use it to create incredible explosions, control time and maybe even restore life. Sonic is the only one I have even seen who can use chaos energy without a machine. Maybe he can help us understand it better."

Tails now took over,

"There is one thing that he has helped me learn professor. You see, Sonic can sometimes wear out in a long battle. I often find myself beside him, well placed to help but our opponent is too physically strong for me to fight like Sonic can. I found a way to collect the excess energy that leaks off' the core of a chaos emerald and store it in a metal ring. Sorta like a battery. Well I had Sonic try it out. It made him run faster then I have ever seen. But then the ring exploded in his hands."

"There are more questions than answers at this time Tails. You my boy are delving into an uncharted and a not very well understood realm of science. I can only advise you to be careful with chaos energy. But I have little doubt that you will find a way around this even without my help. Sonic will still need your help in investigating the source of that attack today. I will continue to research and we can pick up on this another time." Varda said as he seated himself back at his desk, ready to to dive back into his work.

"You've got it professor." Tail answered with a nod. He then turned his focus to the small watch on his left wrist. He pushed a series of buttons and a female voice asked,

"Yes Tails?"

"Get the Tornado ready Fiona, we will be leaving to follow Sonic in five minutes." Tails turned the device back off and waved to the professor as he left to go to Mobotropolis airfield.


	4. Chapter 4: Party of Two

Chapter 4: Party of Two

Novus Spes stood apart from the other cities of Mobius. Although the casual observer would consider it to be more human than Mobian, the city lacked the raw unchecked industrial sprawl of Cydonia. But it didn't have any of the central planning or open air of great Mobotropolis. Instead, humans and Mobians built their homes and business in their own fashion. This smelting of culture and philosophy has caused many on Mobius to classify the city and its residents as their own civilization.

Lisa Prower progressed down one of the many streets of the urban center, all of the streets seemed to contain far more people and vehicles then they were intended to carry. The female fox was as good as lost, this town was just too foreign to her compared to the simple farms back home. Gruff looking humans and an occasional Mobian simply pushed past her without a word or eye contact. Twice she was knocked to the ground, and each time she was startled by the fresh dirt that accumulated on her usually well cleaned vest.

The vixen did, however, read all the signs very carefully. For the benefit of the diverse populace of Novus, they were written in both human script and Mobian letters. Lisa finally found an Inn. Eager to take the weight off of her sore feet, she decided to visit the establishment.

Like an invisible wall, the stench of stale ale and burning tobacco hit the fox's nostrils. She sneezed several times, wondering if she would be able to find a better spot to rest. The glance she made over her shoulder at the growing mobs of commuters on the street made her abandon this thought.

The bar, constructed of polished red wood, supported the weight of about half a dozen humans who leaned over it. Two Mobian sparrows and dark skinned man sat at the table nearest to the door. Lisa was startled when she noticed all three of them were staring at her. She immediately started walking further into the dwelling, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. In a dark corner near the bar, she noticed that one of the candle lit tables was empty. She quickly hopped into one of the seats and sighed a breath of relief. It had been only hours since she had left Doria, and Lisa was already feeling homesick. The fox took advantage of her low key position to further survey the establishment. A short and balding man with a black apron stretched across his massive belly was refilling the glass of gray Mobian wolf. She noticed his multiple scars and a torn ear as the canine moved his mouth to utter inaudible words to the man serving him. Further away, a cat, wearing the unmistakable attire of an Adubbate fortune teller, was practicing her craft on a pink hedgehog.

Her quiet observation was interrupted by a blond, teenage girl who walked up to her table and sat in the seat next to her.

"Hiya! My name's Rachel and I'll be takin' care of yah." She said while she smacked a large wad of gum between her tongue and molars.

"Oh. Hello. Thanks for your offer but I'm not hungry." Lisa returned. This was a lie of coarse, as the vixen felt famished after not eating much breakfast that morning.

"Gotta eat or drink to take a seat hon." The young waitress replied while giving the fox a reproving look with her dark eyes.

"Here, just take a menu and let me know what you'd like."

The waitress walked off and Lisa opened the printed menu. It contained mainly a list of beers and spirits the bar seemed to offer from across the face of Mobius. Lisa had never dared to think of drinking, nor did she want to use her quest to find Miles to start something that her step-parents disprove of. She did notice the food items on the lower part of the menu, and the roasted lamb made her empty stomach grumble even louder. But the tranquil environment of the tavern was instantly disrupted by the angry rant of a haughty female voice.

"What the hell do you mean he's not going to ask me to marry him?! Do you think I just paid you to place Go Fish with those wacky cards? You fake! Sonic WILL marry me, and you can't even use your mediocre skill to tell me when?"

Lisa watched the source patron produce a very large and scary looking red and gold hammer. The wrath contained inside the pink skin of the female hedgehog seemed to radiate through the room and infect other occupants.

"The arts of divination are too complex for your blind eyes to comprehend you silly girl. I foresee a miserable life of fruitless love for you."

The pink hedgehog roared and anger and raised her hammer further above her head. But as she was about to slam it down onto the table with the cards, a hand grabbed it. She looked over to see a dark human hand stopping her from swinging her weapon. A smirk was spread from ear to ear on the man's thin face as he winked at the angry Mobian.

"Aww, calm down sweetheart. Why go after that hedgehog who probably has hundreds of girls chasing after him when you could have me."

This only further enraged the testy hedgehog who aimed one of her designer shoes straight at the man's crotch. A predictable howl of pain came from the now hunched figure of him as nursed his pride.

"Little furry has an attitude I see. Lets show her some respect boys." The man finally said as he got back to his feet. The hedgehog reflexively backed up as the man stood now four feet above her. But she only backed into the two Mobians that were seated with him. Both of them grabbed hold of their victims shoulders and held her in place for their comrade.

"Nooo! Please! Somebody help me!" she screamed as she realized her situation.

"Leave her alone." Growled another female voice. The dark man never got to see who said it, because a solid punch to side of his head knocked him out cold.

The two birds that were holding the man's captive looked up at Lisa Prower in horror. They released the hedgehog and went on the offensive. The larger sparrow had feathers that varied in color from green to light blue started swinging wildly at the vixen. But Lisa managed to block and dodge each one of the blows that the bird aimed at her. On his final, attempted upper cut, the fox grabbed his unused arm while slipping her leg behind her opponent's talon. Like a chop block, Lisa used this to push the sparrow away. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. A loud and eerie crack echoed off the walls as the impact cracked one of the bones inside its wing.

His partner, held both his wings up in submission. Still looking down at the passed out dark man and writhing figure of his other comrade both on the floor.

"Hey! No fighting in here!" Yelled the plump bar tender. His face was red with agitation. Lisa immediately ran up to the man and slipped him some money. The bartender, appeased with a better then average tip, simply motioned for Lisa to return to her table. The fox obliged and sat back down in her seat while trying to slow her adrenaline fueled heart. The remaining sparrow, with the help of his injured friend, carried the still passed out man from the bar. The pink hedgehog quickly joined Lisa at the table.

"Thank you so much." she breathed as she looked at the fox closer. "How did you learn to fight like that? Are you in MSF or something?"

Lisa shook her head and replied,

"Papa believes that everyone should be able to defend themselves, especially women. If we didn't know how to fight, then we would be at the mercy of pigs like them."

"You're right" the other female responded with a bright smile. Lisa took over with the questions and now asked,

"So whats your name and how do you know Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Oh, me and Sonic go way back. We met back in Mobotropolis, it was love at first sight I tell you. But anyways, my name is Amy Rose and Sonic, of coarse, is my boyfriend." The pink hedgehog's cheeks turned bright red to match her crimson dress.

"I'm glad to meet you Amy. My name is Lisa, Lisa Prower." the fox replied brightly to her new acquittance.

Amy's mind instantly fired up. Something about that name sounded familiar to her. Yet she knew that she had never met this fox before in her life. Lisa decided to further the conversation by explaining,

"I am new here and to be honest, I am not sure of what I'm doing. I have come here from the country to look for Sonic the Hedgehog. It is vital that I find him."

Amy, upon hearing these words, grew haughty again. With crossed arms and suspicious green eyes, she said in a threatening tone,

"Oh no you don't. Sonic has no time or interest in girls like you! You may have flashy ninja moves missy, but I swear that if you dare touch Sonic, you'll be sorry."

Lisa's eyes widen in surprise but she rebuffed Amy quickly by adding,

"You have it all wrong Amy. I have no interest in Sonic that way! Honest!"

Amy searched Lisa's pristine blue eyes for any hint of deceit. And not totally convinced, she inquired,

"Well then why do you want to find him?"

"Because he's my link to finding Miles"

Amy now felt she knew what was going on. "You mean Tails?"

"Yes, I read that's what they call him." Lisa said, quietly thank Ando for finding someone who knew her brother.

Amy was reflecting quietly. She only had met Tail's once. The young vulpine was very shy around her and didn't talk very much. Sonic had told her that the fox had followed him around on West Side Island and helped him stop Robotnik from taking the chaos emeralds. He was a bit of a kid brother to Sonic and spent a lot of time keeping Sonic's plane in shape.

"Sonic is very fond of him. But to be honest Lisa, he's kinda nerdy and a bit young for you."

Lisa tipped her had back as she laughed in front of Amy for the first time.

"Whats so funny?" Amy asked, feeling a bit puzzled. Lisa then explained between her giggles,

"I wasn't laughing at you. I'm not trying to hook up with Miles. he's my little brother after all."

Lisa continued to laugh while Amy sat there with eyes wide open she then whispered,

"Sonic said he's an orphan."

Lisa frowned and an element of sadness now creeped into her young face as she replied,

"We were separated a long time ago. I thought he died with our parents, he probably thinks the same about me."

"That's incredible. I want to help you Lisa, it's the least I can do after you saved me from those savages. I know how to find Sonic as I have done it many times. Him and Tails are like brothers and where one is, the other usually follows."

"Thank you so much Amy! You don't know how much this means to me!" Lisa proclaimed as she hugged the pink hedgehog.

"Don't mention it. Come on, I'm sure you also need a place to stay since you say your from Doria. I'll show you my cute little townhouse." Amy said brightly as she got up from her chair.

Both females walked towards the exit. The streets outside were now empty and the sun had set. As Amy stepped forward to lead Lisa to her home, both of them felt a large black cloth bags slip over their faces and upper torsos.

"Got 'em. Lets get these creatures back to base" said the last voice that Lisa heard before the heat and lack of air caused the fox to pass out.

A fresh, blood curdling scream echoed through the halls of iron. Though the the sound waves hit his eardrums, the man marching down the damp corridor payed no attention to it. Those ears had heard and his eyes had witnessed things far worst in this life.

The man reached up to remove a long and smoldering cigar from his mouth. A rare brand, given to him by one of his wartime friends, he made sure to treasure each puff from the hand rolled tobacco. Cobald he was called, The Grand Imperator of the Narbos. Although his family and nation was not the largest, it enjoyed its central position as a center of trade. It also bolstered the largest standing army on the planet.

Cobald took a deep breath of the underground prison air, sporting a rancid odor of rust, mildew and feces. He stopped at another door blocking the passage. One of many designed to remain shut, in order to halt the escape of any fool who attempted to break out of his prison cell. Unlike the rusty walls of the hall, this door was polished enough for Cobald to see the figure standing before it.

The man inside the pressed white tunic was deathly thin and taller then most humans on Mobius. Viscous scars were etched into his thin face, like cracks stretching across the chiseled face of a stone statue. His dark and cavernous eye sockets were occupied by stones of charcoal blue. These were not the irises of optimism or wonder, but the kind that when looked upon made you feel as though the blood inside your very heart had frozen frozen solid.

One, of the two privates that were escorting him stepped forward to move the door aside . Cobald looked at the young man as he fumbled with the keypad of the door and scowled at what he saw. The old man had spent more time in the military then that of his two escorts combined. And nothing could make him more agitated then what he now saw.

A typical Narbodian Soldier wore a uniform of dark, heavy woven burgundy. A design that Cobald's own grandfather had fashioned for his family's security forces. This was also the color of the polished steel helmet that were issued to all forces, made to withstand anything but a direct shot from a Mobian hand cannon. The only material tougher then this was the composite that protected the soles of the soldier in his high jack boots. These boots that did not have the leg sides properly tucked inside. Unable to bear it any longer, Cobald cried out,

"Private!"

The man who was still working on opening the door instantly snapped to attention. His chest was puffed out awkwardly and blank eyes staring at the ceiling. The fearsome commander got within inches of the soldiers face, so that tobacco infused breath hit his nose while the older man spoke,

"Got a problem with the dress code private?"

"No sir!"

"Then why the hell are your pant cuffs untucked?"

The soldier broke his form to bend down and nullify the infraction. But the booming voice of the Imperator snapped him back up.

"Don't fix it now boy! I don't have all damn day to sit here and baby you. Get this door open!"

"Yes sir!"

The trembling private worked quicker now at the keypad and finally got the door open. This room was one of the many cell blocks in the underground complex. Sporting all forms of life, from thieves, to deserters and political activists. All whom Cobald considered to be to dangerous to be seen or heard by the other loyal citizens of Narbodia. Another load scream traveled through the cell block, and this time, it was much louder. The Imperator and his two escorts walked within inches of the bars of the individuals cells. The diverse occupants watched the party stride by, some looked with great fear, others with restrained fury. As he walked by the last cell before leaving this particular prison block, a chiding voice called out to him from between the bars,

"Got a date Victor? I always knew you liked it rough!"

The old man stopped for a moment while taking a few deep draws from his cigar. He then turned to the wretched face of a man poking out of the bars of his cell, flashing his prisoner a wicked smile. He raised his hand, and for a second, it seemed as though that the Grand Imperator would strike the man. But the gloved hand instead made a strange motion to the flanking private. A swift smash of metal against flesh and the man in the cell was knocked back. Yet he returned cell bars, sporting a few less teeth in his deranged grin.

Cobald moved on past the prisoner and out of the cell block. This new corridor was very short and right as the company approached the door at the end, it opened. Another shorter man came out and saluted his commander.

"Hello sir. We still have not been able to get anything out of him." The lower man greeted as he straightened out his tunic.

"That's because you aren't trying hard enough Phillips. Come and see how it is done." Cobald replied as he walked past Captain Phillips.

The room he entered was far different from the rest of the underground compound and kept as a dark secret. However, whispers and rumors passed through the citizens of the city above of the dark dungeon where many souls perished in anguish. Cobald could feel his heart rush as he looked up to his new subject in his hidden chamber.

A Mobian raccoon was stationary, his arms were bound to the ceiling and supported his limp body. Many burns marks and trails of crimson blood stained the Mobian's matted fur. Cobald could see from the damage that many of the "usual methods" had been fruitlessly attempted. After pacing around the limp figure for several lips, the skeletal commander moved close to his subject's face. The raccoon seemed to be asleep, though Cobald knew that this was a lie. Sleep was not enough to halt the obvious pain that was throbbing through the animal's body. In a cool and collected whisper, he began his work,

"Anduin is it?"

The raccoon slowly lifted his head to look at his new tormentor. Chestnut brown met cold blue as both beings surveyed each other in mutual hatred. Cobald was the one to break off from this standoff and he turned to resume pacing in front of the Mobian.

"Now surely an Elder of the Sons of Ando would know of what I seek and where it is." He said reproachfully with his eyes pointed at the cement floor.

A a wad of spit, containing more blood then saliva stained this floor as the raccoon gave his bold response.

"You furries never cease to amaze me. Bold enough to challenge a human, we who made you who you are. But I will be more direct with you. Despite your terrorist objectives that are ignored by your ignorant government officials, I do not care about your hopeless cause or ideas. I only want one thing..."

Cobald now had his nose no less then an inch from the nostrils of the raccoon. Their eyes were once again locked with each other. Anduin finally spoke up,

"We don't have your filthy daughter Cobald. Although I wish we did, death and destruction are all your race deserves. Mobius will be rid of your kind soon enough. It is the will of Ando."

Cobald chuckled but maintained his gaze. Anduin continued,

"Go ahead, kill me, or keep wasting your time, using your toys to inflict more damage to my broken body. You'll never destroy us, for we are as smoke in the wind. No matter how hard you swat at us, we will always return. Ando will grant me my revenge in another life."

"Very well then Elder, I shall grant you your wish. Enjoy rotting in the ground with your fake idol"

The human quickly jabbed a syringe into the neck of his prisoner. Anduin closed his eyes for the last time as his body fell into eternal sleep. Cobald tossed the used syringe to the floor and turned to leave the chamber. Captain Phillips followed him,

"Sir, I'm certain we could have extracted other information out of him, even if he wouldn't have revealed the location of your daughter."

Cobald allowed himself a small smile and answered,

"After all our long years old friend, you still doubt me. Mobians are savages capable of murder and pillage. It is written in their inferior genes. However, lying is not one of those talents. I believe I will have to dig further to find my daughter. Whats the latest news of the Mobotropolis attack?"

Phillips studied a hand held data pad that was previously strapped to his belt for a few moments and then answered,

"Two of the other families have replied back to my inquiry denying any knowledge or involvement in the incident. That dog Brashen still won't accept your denial of any involvement sir. It seems that the Mobians want to pin the blame squarely on the shoulders of our kingdom."

Cobald heaved a sigh and made eye contact with his old friend. While his friend had shared in his fortune of avoiding certain death with the rest of the sixteenth, he had not been so fortunate in slowing his aging. Phillips still could have passed for one of the young privates that guarded the halls of this prison, not a follicle of brown hair had fallen from his scalp. His sea blue eyes were surrounded by browned white skin that showed little signs of wrinkle or decay. They had fought for dominance of Mobius, and now the peace that they had suffered to achieve was once again threatened.

"The marshal of furries has never hesitated to point a finger at me, he wants my full cooperation yet he has given so little in the obvious Mobian kidnap of my beloved Sarah. Perhaps it's finally time for us to show the Mobians who is the rightful owner of this planet."

Cobald now proceeded at a rapid pace to leave the prison and Commander Phillips silently followed his leader out of those dreaded halls.


	5. Chapter 5: Showdown at the Scrap Brain

Chapter 5: Showdown at the Scrap Brain

One thousand miles away, a smaller life form was blasting past the massive heaps of twisted metal. The thick smog that masked the evening sunlight nor the twisted forms of forgotten creations were new to the hedgehog. The scrap brain is what he and others had named it. A graveyard for all of Ivo Robotnik's old machines. The mere waste products of an unchained genius. Yet, unlike his original adventure to this place, which was once the headquarters for the crushed Eggman Empire, Sonic was not alone on this quest. He haled for a moment to allow his companion to catch up.

The fox that was trailing Sonic stopped spinning his propeller tails and apologized between his heavy breathes,

"I've never seen this place. I wish you had told me about it. I could really learn a lot about Eggman and his creations from all this trash."

Sonic merely grinned back at his friend, knowing that he couldn't resist stopping often to explore the secrets inside the junk heaps.

"Perhaps we will come back later big guy, I didn't realize Egghead had rebuilt and continued using this place after I kicked his ass."

"So, do we try and find out who is building those robots? I think Eggman is still behind it Sonic. I know you think he's dead, but who else could it be?" Tails offered, but the resolve in his brother's face told him that they did not share the same opinion.

"Eggy is toast Tails, his robots and control systems must be going amok. Maybe there's some fail safe programming that the guy inserted into them. You know? Something that would make them carry on the fight if he himself was finished off."

Tails nodded in slight agreement with Sonic's words. It made sense after all, and he always seemed to know what Eggman would do. As if he had the personality and habits of the madman etched into the back of his skull.

The duo continued through the scrap brain, getting closer to the belching smokestacks of the factories. They approached the final stack of rusting metal when Sonic screeched to another halt and pushed Tails to the side.

"Sentry bots"

Sonic whispered to Tail's surprised face. Tails looked over to see two bowl shaped blue-silver robots floating in midair. Their red electronic eyes each glowed vibrantly and their bottom mounted searchlights beamed through the area in search of anomalies. He carefully reached into his backpack to grab one of the new weapons that he had brought to help.

"I've got this Sonic." he said as he aimed a short black metal laser pistol at the patrolling automatons. But his friend grabbed the barrel and whispered.

"Hold up little bro. We can't be too gung-ho on this one."

Tails was shocked by the seemingly out of character response from best friend. Sonic then explained,

"We need to find out who is in charge before we set off the alarm. Give me a boost" The hedgehog pointed to a large opening thirty feet from the ground of the nearest building. Tails acknowledged his mission and spun his namesakes to lift them both off the ground. They soared towards the metal building and above the not so vigilant sentries. It was a tight squeeze, but they made it through the gaping open window. Tails scanned the dark insides of the place for a location to land.

"Over there"

Sonic said, using one hand to point while using the other to hang on to his friend. The fox flew them both across the open aired room to land on a large steel container. Sonic couldn't help it but feel somewhat uneasy. After seeing the active patrols outside of the building, he found it difficult to believe that they could be in here undetected.

"This must be one of Robotnik's supply depots Sonic."

Sonic looked down to see the fox was walking amongst the other storage containers reading the labels and looking inside some of them. Sonic knew that his buddy would spend hours rummaging through the warehouse, grabbing supplies to use on his own mechanical creations, but now was not the time.

"Come on little bro, we've gotta get to the command room."

Tails nodded back at the hedgehog. The two then progressed toward the end of the large room at a hasty pace. An orange glow coming from that side of the building glowed brighter and brighter until Sonic and Tails saw, through the opening, a massive foundry. One of many in the industrial complex.

Tails stepped forward to see rivers of molten Iron fall from smelting pots high above. White-orange liquid was continuously being poured into molds and casts. The sound of turning metal wheels reached the fox's long perked ears just in time for him to hop aside. A drone, originating from behind him, was carrying what looked to be the future chassis for a future combot to the warehouse they had just come from.

The worker drone took no notice of the intruders in this sweatshop. Its limited computer hidden behind large black sensors was more occupied calculating the time it would take to deposit this current burden and return to deliver the next one. Tails walked further into the foundry looking now for an exit. Many other drones were scurrying around him now, building the parts that composed the dreadful Eggman armies. Tails glanced over to see that Sonic was indeed following him closely, his fists were held closely up, as if ready to fend off an impending attack.

"There!" The orange fox announced. Sonic saw that it was yet another passage to a building in the complex. But unlike the passage from the warehouse, this one was a highly traverse highway that had many machines carrying supplies into the next room.

"Lets go" Sonic broke his silence and took off running through the tunnel. The fox spun his tails to follow the hero. They halted when they found themselves in the center of a gigantic assembly line.

"Watch out!" Sonic shouted and Tails jumped just in time to avoid it. A drone zoomed by him to wield another gun onto the chassis of a neighboring Titanbot. Tails was flying again and picked Sonic up again to raise them up onto a catwalk.

There, they could see it all. Thousand and thousands of robots made with the evil recipes of Dr. Robotnik were all being assembled right below their feet.

"But why? Who's doing this?" Tails wondered aloud. But his answer came much sooner then expected.

"One who does not answer to the likes of you"

Both heroes spun around on the metal walkway. But the source of the voice was nowhere to be found.

"Come out where we can see you!" Sonic commanded as he moved into a defensive stance.

"Very well" The voice replied. It's voice lacked any hint of emotion.

There was a metallic thud on the catwalk. Sonic and Tails both turned to see a shadow approaching them. A rustic tan hood covered the body and all they could see below it were two piercing red eyes glowing back at them. Tails' heart flinched in dread as they seemed familiar, just like the voice that had preempted them. The figure stopped when it was only a few yards from them and used its silver metal hands to draw down the cloak that had shielded its face.

"You!" Sonic shouted in disbelief, his emerald green eyes darted across the metal body of the robot he thought he had destroyed forever.

"Back from the dead?" Metal Sonic laughed as he took in this long awaited moment with his rival.

"As if I am subject to that pathetic ending that all you flesh-lings are vulnerable to."

Metal Sonic silently commanded his internal motors and they responded by increasing his stature and size until the wicked robot stood almost three feet taller then his adversaries. He then held his fist up to show the glowing amber chaos emerald.

"Appendages can be re-tempered and reattached, motors can be adjusted and replaced, circuits can be rewired and perfected. And intruders..."

Metal Sonic held the emerald now as high into the air as possible and then finished,

"Intruders shall be eliminated!"

A golden beam spread out above the heroes and suddenly, the floor below them gave away as the raw chaos energy severed the catwalk from the struts that fastened it to the ceiling.

Sonic charged at Metal despite this, spinning rapidly in midair as he hit the robot's unguarded chest. The two tumbled down to the factory floor. Tail's descended slower, added by his spinning namesakes. Both hedgehogs where untouched by the sharp fall and wrestled on the ground until Metal managed to kick his blue opponent off of him. Sonic landed hard, several feet away.

"Soldiers of the Master! Hear me now and defend this sanctuary against our eternal enemy!"

Metal cried out as he stared at hunched over figure of Sonic. Instantly, the assembled and partially assembled robots that were all around the facility sprung to life. Some began to aim their weapons at the two heroes who were now surrounded.

But Sonic, who was faster, took off leaving a sonic boom to knock over the unfortunate machines that were too close to him. Tails too sprung too action, flying back into the air and opened fire on the crowd of combatants with miniature golden rings. These exploded on impact, sending bolts and flaming metal flying through the air.

The factory, turned war zone, quickly became cloudy with smoke from the corpses of fallen robots. This fog caused the laser fire from the remaining robots to fly into their comrade rather then the two Mobians laying waste to their ranks.

Sonic breathed happily as he indulged in the adrenaline, his feet were too fast and his spin was too sharp to allow his opponents even the opportunity to flee from his rampage.

"Man, without Egghead, these fights are just getting too easy." Sonic's quiet thought caused him to laugh out loud as he smashed through an Apollo series fire platform that was missing four out of its five machine guns. White flames erupted from its broken frame and Sonic now halted a moment to re-evaluate the battlefield.

Nearby, he could see his little brother was thriving as he used his tails to slice the metal logs off of an E series combat bot. It fell over, while its arms kept moving to try and continue its futile fight. But absent from all of the wreckage and bedlam was the de facto commander of this routed army. Sonic now returned to his fast pace to search for the glowing red eyes and sharped blue titanium quills of Metal Sonic. But as the room grew quieter with less live robots, Sonic realized that the AI construct was no longer there. Tails returned to Sonic's side to help his older brother search for their common nemesis.

But as the eerie silence continued to pick at the team's ears, a startling explosion ruptured through the air. The shock wave knocked the two Mobians to the ground. Sonic turned his head as he lied on the ground to see that the entire side of the metal factory had been ripped off and a towering robot, the size of a skyscraper, stood above them.

"Now you will see what it truly means to face the power of the Eggman Empire. Feel the wrath of the Egg Goliath!" Cried the amplified voice of Metal Sonic.

Tails and Sonic both jumped out of the way as the giant's fist rammed down to smite them, creating a large crater in the cement factory floor.

"What do we do Sonic?" Tails cried out in panic. Sonic started to run again and shouted,

"Just keep running little bro! He can't hit us with that slow ass piece of junk."

But a large ball of flame sprayed from from the abdomen of the Egg Goliath in response to this hedgehog cheek. Rolling on the ground, Sonic was able to avoid being swallowed by the flames. He got back to his feet when they had subsided to charge at the feet of the tower machine.

However, his high speed spin attack did little more then a dent to the toe of the giant. And Metal let out an amplified laugh as he commanded the machine to stomp at the retreating hedgehog. Sonic again came to Tails, who was still pulling burned strands of fur from his torso.

"It no use little bro, I'll keep him distracted while you make a break for it." Sonic commanded in resignation.

"No Sonic! I won't let you." Tails retorted, feeling angry that his friend would ever dream of this.

"WE HAVE NO CHOICE TAILS!"

"YES WE DO!"

Tails now held out four glowing yellow rings to his friend.

"You fixed them?!" Sonic asked excitedly.

"No" Tails sighed, "But chaos control will stop Metal. The only thing is, I'm not sure how big the blast will be. Maybe if you energize them enough, you can throw them at..."

Sonic never heard his words, but having already taken rings from Tails, took off at full speed towards Egg Goliath. Metal, in the cockpit of the behemoth machine smirked to himself as he saw his foe approach him in another futile attack. He once again made the machine ball its fist to finally crush the blue hedgehog and achieve the victory that he had so long desired.

But a white glow was now coming in bright through the cockpit view port. Metal's enhanced electronic eyes couldn't see anymore and then came the blast, followed by blackness. Tails felt the force of a thousand cyclones knock him back as he too shielded his eyes from the light. He landed in the remains of the factory next to the remains of the previously defeated combat bots. The fox curled into the fettle position, keeping his eyelids closed and his gloved hands over his ears. He prayed, he begged and hoped for it all to stop, for the pain of the agitated air to end and for the peace to come. And it did come finally, when Tails felt brave enough to open his eyes.

The area around him was barren, save for scraps of scarred stone and strips of steel. It was dark as night, since the smoke of the blast joined the stationary smog to mask the long sought sunlight. Tails climbed to his feet to explore the damage, which he felt lucky enough to have survived. He soon found the crumpled form of Metal Sonic. Sparks were jumping from the socket that previously held his left arm and Tails gasped has he saw that a green glow was still coming from his remaining right hand. The fox pried the un-powered iron fingers open and held now in his hands a chaos emerald.

Tails never forgot the first time he held one of these relics. He nor any scholar he asked knew where they came from or what they were made of, but he always felt invincible when he held one. As if a source of infinite power, wisdom and life was his to consume. But with now two of the combatants in this show down accounted for, Tails quickly realized that he had yet to find the third.

"Sonic!" He cried out, both in hope and desperation. But the fox's call only echoed through the smoldering ruins as he realized he was the only living creature around. Tails now quickly started running through the wreckage.

"Please, oh please. Let him have lived. Let met find him. I don't think I could bare it, I can't bare the pain."

Tails stopped now. And as he lowered himself to to sit on the ground, a small tear rolled from one of his eyes. Sonic had left him and he was now alone. But suddenly, the green chaos emerald in his hand glowed and radiated warm energy. The fox gasped in wonder as he stared at it, but then a yellow haze of chaos energy erupted in front of the of him. It convulsed and toiled for what seemed minutes until finally it faded. There was a blue hedgehog, it lied on its back, unconscious.

"Sonic." Tails cried out as he crawled over to greet his brother. But Sonic didn't answer, and this lack of response puzzled the small vulpine. This cause him to place his ear against the hedgehog's chest for a few minutes. The steady and powerful thumps made shocks of excitement surge through the fox as he thanked the ancients for sparing his friend. And now, as if he had not just fought an epic battle, Tails grabbed his best friend and took off into the air, back in the direction that he and Sonic came from. Behind him though, red sensor lights glowed back to life as the hidden fail safes of a well designed machine fulfilled their purpose.


	6. Chapter 6: The Roboticizer

Chapter 6: The Roboticizer

If there was anything he had developed in all of his years of struggle, it was patience. Patience for others too slow to comprehend his ideas. Patience for those too incompetent to follow his well laid plans. Patience for the world which was too distorted from his own grand utopia. Yes, Ivo Robotnik had certainly learned patience and he knew how well he was practicing it now.

The mad doctor halted his hasty pace around his command room to scratch the top of his hairless head. Around him was a myriad of displays and control panels relaying information from the many citadels of the Eggman Empire scattered throughout planet Mobius. There was a loud buzz and one of the screens displaying mundane information switched to show a badly damaged chrome blue robot.

"Late!" Robotnik barked until his eyes finally zeroed in on his robotic minion and growled, "What is this?"

"My sincere apologies for the disruption in your carefully arranged schedule master, but the hedgehog has interfered." Metal said with his head lower in a sincere bow.

The reaction was instant, both fists of the obese tyrant slammed down on the console, resulting in a flurry of sparks and loud crack that cause Metal to flinch in his screen. Metal allowed another second to pass before he continued to deliver the bad news,

"Apparently, the hedgehog was able to use chaos control again. This time, at a much larger scale. As of now, the first and tenth regiments have been completely destroyed. Ninety percent of the production center has been demolished and the Egg Goliath is no more. Initial estimates indicate..."

"RAAWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!"

The walls and floor vibrated under the stress of the roar. As if the rage within the mans veins were sweeping out to torment the world. Robotnik was breathing very hard now. Wrinkles of anger spread from his forehead to his last chin.

"So the hedgehog has foiled me yet again, he is probably on his way here now to finish off the rest of the Empire and myself. ALL UNITS, GO TO FULL COMBAT READINESS!" he commanded through the fortress comlink.

"Sir, if you would let me finish. The hedgehog in no shape to fight you at the moment." Metal resumed while switching his video feed to show Tails kneeled over the body of Sonic. Eggman felt like he had jumped one hundred feet into the air as he shouted in glee.

"I have waited a long time for this!"

"I am still not able to confirm his exact status sir. However, the fox did survive and carried Sonic away with him. Both of them were lead to believe that I am behind the attacks on Mobotropolis. Ergo, your plans and perceived death have not been spoiled. Also, the hedgehog was unable to discover project Searing Flesh. The subjects have been removed from Gamma center and should arrive at your location shortly."

"For once, the good news had outweighed the bad" thought the twisted mind of Ivo Robotnik. He had lost a part of the army he planned to use in the invasion of Mobius, but the core of his plan was still in motion.

"Very well unit 002, abandon Gamma center for now. It is but the second time that rodent has vandalized my prized city. We must not waste our limited resources in rebuilding it, not until the final victory. Ensure the security of the other facilities and commence phase two of Operation Neodoria."

Eggman waited only to see Metal bow graciously before he cut off the communication. Whirring metallic wheels alerted the large man that he was once again, no longer alone in his command room. He turned to find EDDIE waiting for him.

"Noble master. The subjects from Gamma Center have arrived. Two of them are giving us considerable trouble."

"Do I have to do everything around here!?"

Robotnik snarled at the black bot right as he walked out of the room. EDDIE took microseconds to allow his computer core to interpret this until he too rolled towards the command room door to accompany his master to the docking bays.

Throughout her life, Lisa had known and learned to conquer fear. She knew it would always return to challenge her to a rematch, but this particular fear was particularly horrific. Somehow, she could sense that her life was in gravest of perils. The noises around her was a loud combination of moving machinery and screams from her fellow prisoners. Yet despite the raging signals that were reaching her other four sense, she was unable to see anything but the white sheet that covered her entire head.

"Lisa?" called out a neighboring voice.

"Amy!" Lisa called back. "Where are you?"

The female fox felt a rush of air and the room she was standing in became clearly visible. The face mask was finally removed. Her eyes now focused on the pink hedgehog in front of her. Her mouth was contorted into a smug smile and she had her large piko piko hammer clutched in her right fist.

"I can't move...where are we?" Lisa moaned aloud. Amy moved to untie the nylon twine that held the vixen's hands together as she whispered,

"I think this is one of Eggman's bases. I destroyed the robots that were guarding us. I'm not too sure why..."

"Well, well well. If it isn't my old friend Amy Rose"

Amy knew that voice and turned to stare at the man in disbelief. He was a booming presence even in the large hanger bay. He was accompanied only by a small black robot who also stared at her blankly.

"You're supposed to be..."

"Dead? Whahahahaha!" Eggman crossed his arms and smile wickedly at her.

"Well I can finish that task for my darling Sonic!" Amy raised her hammer again and before she could charge, she noticed Eggman's smile widened as he shook his gloved finger at her.

"Such a hot headed little rodent. Just take a look around you."

Amy now noticed that the air in front of her was twisting and contorting. She and Lisa gasped as it was doing the same behind them as well. She felt scare and foolish that she had yet again fallen into one of Eggman's techno traps.

"What is this Eggman? Let us out of here!" She cried out in anger.

"Oh ho! You see young Amy, this is no force field." Dr. Robotnik snapped his fingers. The places in the air that were distorted and corrupted were instantly emblazoned with clouds of green mist with small arcs of electricity jumping across them. But only a second of this persisted and the green clouds were replaced by sleek black robots.

There were eight of them, forming a full circle around Amy and Lisa, pointing their double mounted cannons at them. Amy was so surprised, her hammer slithered out of her hand and hit the hanger deck with a thud. Lisa however, had allowed her rage to hit the boiling point. The man who was threatening her had already taken so much from her, and would not let him cause her anymore harm.

"How dare you threaten us, take us from our homes in chains and cage us like animals. Do you not ever think about all the people you have harmed? How many lives have been destroyed by you? Ando will grant us vengeance against you Ivo Robotnik. And I will personally see to it that my parents get to taste your blood drip on their grave!"

Lisa felt her blood pounding her ear drums, her peach fur was ruffled out and her blue eyes turned silvery white with raw emotion. The round man was shocked by this. He could never recall a time that someone had spoken to him in such a way. Did he feel remorse? Anxiety? Or even fear? The tyrant really had no idea, and he stared at the fox in dismay. But he finally moved his fat lips to ask,

"Who are you vixen? Who would dare to address the ruler of the Eggman Empire in such a bold manner?"

"I am no commoner Robotnik. I am Lisa Prower, daughter of Captain Amadeus Prower and brother to Miles Prower."

Eggman felt his jaw drop slightly as he processed her words. And the responding thoughts made him reply in almost a whisper,

"I...I never knew that mutant fox had a sister..."

"You've met him haven't you? You've hurt him haven't you? So help me Ando that if you dare to harm my little brother.."

"SILENCE!" Robotnik now roared, "You are in no position to be making threats and demands missy!"

Lisa looked around and ground her teeth in frustration as she noticed the Stealth bots adjust their aim at her chest.

"So what do you want from us Robotnik? If you have brought us here to die, then get it over with already!" Amy said as she now held her angry and frustrated fox friend.

"Oh no my dears. You have it all wrong. I brought you and the others here for a very special purpose. However, I have decided to spare you both from it though. Your relationships to my nemesis will certainly provide me just the pocket ace I need to achieve supremacy. Come now and see the new generation that will inhabit the glorious new world I will create."

Robotnik made a motion to the guards and they escorted the company out of the hanger and into a wide corridor that had massive windows on both sides of it. The red clad bald man moved close enough to the view ports to look inside, Lisa and Amy joined him in this.

Below was a large and sparsely lit room. Surrounding the walls were vast assortment of computer racks, capacitor banks and transformers. Huge tubes and long wires ran across the floor to conjoin at glowing platform in the middle of the room. It was near this platform that Lisa saw them. There must have been at least a dozen, some Mobians, some humans all surrounded by brutal looking guard bots. The prisoners were all terrified, and one Mobian rabbit was plucked from the crowd and brought onto the glowing platform.

As soon as the guards cleared it, a red force field activated, preventing the rabbit from fleeing. She was screaming now, unsure of what was about to happen.

"Activating sequence!" Called an electronic voice through the intercom. A blue hue of light waves began beaming down on the panicking rabbit as she pushed and pleaded to get out of the containment field. The beam however continued to get brighter until Lisa had to cover her eyes. She could hear the rabbit screaming now in painful anguish, however her voice almost suddenly transformed to a low electronic rumble before it stopped. Lisa then dared a peak to see that the blue beam had stopped and she was surprised to see the rabbit was still standing. But it didn't move or speak and Lisa's heart creaked with curiosity of what had just happened to this Mobian.

"Activate the new subject" Eggman called out.

The rabbit began to move now, but somewhat awkwardly. It began to speak,

"Unit 049 ready to serve the master." The metallic rabbit saluted the window that Robotnik and the others were looking through.

"Excellent! EXCELLENT!" Robotnik responded in triumph. Amy and Lisa were both too shocked by what had just happened to respond. The mad scientist now turned to them to say.

"Weak flesh replaced by strong steel gears. Uncontrollable minds replaced by compliant silicon computers! This is the future of Mobius and the ultimate race of the Eggman Empire."

Lisa now spoke up in a hoarse voice.

"You! You're a monster! How can you do this to us or to your own race?"

"Quiet the contrary my dear. Humans and Mobians have proven to be un-malleable and imperfect. They have no place in the perfect Eggman Empire. I am doing them a favor and correcting their deficiencies so that they may finally live in bliss." Robotnik said, but Amy rebutted,

"At the cost of free will. You cannot be allowed to do this! You're insane!"

"The only thing to distinguish genius from insanity is success. And my plan will give me that Amy. These, just like their predecessors, will continue to assault the Mobian Republic and the Human Ruling families until they spark.

"Spark?" Amy asked. Robotnik giggled and then explained,

"Why should I continue to grind my armies fruitlessly against Sonic and the Mobians or the other humans when I can get them to fight each other. The fools, consumed in blind hatred are eager to fight. I will provide them the motivation to break their silly peace, and on the ruins of their battlefield, I will build the ultimate civilization!"

Lisa couldn't take it anymore, she had never encountered such evil and malice. One who talked of the death of millions without batting an eye. She had to stop him, even if it meant she would never see Miles or foster parents again. She attacked. It was the best she had done, a roundhouse kick that was destined to hit Eggman's jaw within a split second.

Unfortunately, the machine's surrounding the party in the corridor had not lowered their vigilance and as soon as they saw Lisa's rash move, they fired. There, on the cold metal floor, landed the brave fox.

"Stun blast successful master!" said the electronic voice of the stealth bot. Amy, who was already leaning over her friend's body heaved a sigh of relief. But she was pulled off of the fox by one of the other robots.

"Take them to the prison block. The stupid little fox can go in with our other VIP, put the sassy hedgehog in the other empty cell. Sonic will not be able to challenge me without loosing his friends."

Robotnik commanded. The machines moved to execute his orders and the evil scientist turned to leave the corridor grinding his fists together with a smile spread from ear to ear.

"Mobius is mine!"


	7. Chapter 7: Eggs and Bacon

Chapter 7: Eggs and Bacon

Energy, pure and unlimited, was flowing through his veins. Sonic could both feel and see the golden waves swirling about him. In front, his foe cowered and braced for a terrifying fight. Around him was the steel super structure of the resurrected Death Egg.

"I have already beat this demon" Sonic said aloud through gritted teeth.

Yet no one heard him, and he saw Dr. Robotnik move the large machine forward to attack. It's stomach suddenly opened. The massive crystal glowed and a green beam of raw chaos energy roared towards him, hitting the hero straight in the chest. Sonic watched the seven chaos emerald scatter from him. And as he tumbled towards the blue atmosphere of Mobius, he heard the echoes of laughter coming from the triumphant Robotnik aboard the Death Egg.

Instantly, eyelids flashed open to reveal emerald green irises. They shut again as light hit them for the first time in what felt like ages. Allowing a few moments for his pupils to dilate, Sonic the Hedgehog realized that he was no longer in the dream realm. Opening his eyes again, he began to observe his surroundings.

The bed he was resting on was small, designed for a Mobian like himself. He ran his ungloved hands across the soft quilted cover that covered his sore body. Small rays of light were creeping through the thick sheet that was nailed to the window. Sonic never had a house, always preferring the open plains and country of Mobius as his home. But he couldn't help enjoying the comfort of sleeping in a bed, rather then a tree or rooftop. The hedgehog noticed the picture on the table next to him. Four foxes smiled back at him. Initially, he didn't recognize any of them, but his eyes were drawn to the smallest one who's fur was bright orange. Tails.

Sonic searched his memory, but couldn't remember a time that his best friend had ever mentioned his family. He knew that the fox had been orphaned at a young age and that his family must still be a sensitive subject for him. There was cracking sound and Sonic looked up to see the fox in question standing at the doorway.

"Sonic! Thank Ando you're okay!"

He stepped quickly to his friend's side and placed a tray with hot chili dogs on the table. Sonic attempted to collect his thoughts for a few moments but then decided to ask,

"What happened to me?"

"Well, I'm not completely sure Sonic. We were fighting Metal Sonic inside his Goliath machine. You caused chaos control again, but this time with four power rings."

"I don't remember doing something that crazy..." Sonic remarked as he continued to stare at Tails.

"You did and I'm surprised that you are still alive to be honest. Especially after you disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah! After the blast, I couldn't find you anywhere, but then you suddenly apparated in front of me. There were lots of golden mist waves around you and you were glowing yellow. Sort of like when you do a super transformation with the seven chaos emeralds."

Tails now pushed the plate of chili dogs to his friend and finished by saying,

"You've been passed out for over a week now Sonic. Eat and then come down to my workshop. There is something I need you to help me with."

Sonic quickly scarfed down warm meal with great delight. He silently reminded himself that he would need to find out how his friend made chili that was so spicy. The hedgehog found his red and white shoes polished and neatly tucked under the bed waiting for him. After slipping them on, he used his hazy memory of the house layout to find his way to Tails' large workshop and research center.

The underground nerve center of MilesTech, the name that Sonic knew his buddy used to brand his mechanical toys, was bright and busy. As Sonic stepped out of the elevator car, he took in a breath of petroleum infused air and gave out a shudder. He hated to be underground, with no view of the sky or large spaces to run. Yet he knew that Tails had built this place to house and hide the weapons and vehicles that made his fight with Robotnik a much more viable, yet unbalanced struggle.

Sonic found the orange fox laboring behind a control bank, splicing cables together, oblivious to the other's arrival. The hedgehog felt that this machine was a new addition to the workshop. It reminded him a lot of the mushrooms he encountered in the forest back on Angel Island, except this was made of gold tinted metal and stood almost twice his height from the ground.

A series of cables that did god knows what were connected to a control bank that Tails was still working on.

"Let me guess, an industrial chili dog warmer." Sonic broke the silence.

There was a loud thump and Tails was standing to look at Sonic. He was rubbing the back of his bumped head, but his eyes welcomed his best friend's humor.

"Nah, Mobians don't like their food to be automatically processed like that anyways. Maybe the humans would be interested though." He said with a chuckle and then continued,

"But this isn't a chili dog machine Sonic. Its a chaos force field reader."

"Okay..." Sonic replied, still no wiser.

"I designed it to analysis surrounding chaos energy. Stand close to it Sonic. There is something I need to find out." Tails order, now stepping behind the control panel. The fox began to turn a few knobs as his friend approached the large, golden shaped mushroom.

"Here we go!"

The only change Sonic notice was that the golden metal he was standing next to began to vibrate making a light buzzing sound. He saw Tails stare intently at the monitors of the console he was standing over.

"Hows it looking buddy? Does it see anything?"

Sonic asked. Tails looked up at him to say,

"Come and see. This thing is much more sensitive than I thought."

The hedgehog darted to Tails' side and looked at the displays. In the center was something that looked to Sonic like a radar. He could see two blips on the screen. But his friend was not paying attention to this, his eyes were focused on a side monitor that displayed a large series of number.

"I have it Sonic. I have your chaos signature"

Sonic could not ignore the excitement that was behind Tails' voice. The fox was now looking at him with a bright smile on his face. Knowing that this must be a good thing, he still probed the issue by asking,

"So whats my chaos signature? Does this have to do with me dissapparating or causing chaos control?"

"Yes and no Sonic. Me and Professor Varda believe that you are a chaos adept; a creature who is naturally connected with chaos energy. We really don't know exactly what or where chaos energy comes from, but the chaos emeralds seem to be created with it. They contain immeasurable amounts of it and we are able to use these as battery sources of chaos energy. Both I and Eggman need these to use chaos power, be it for good or evil." Tails paused for a moment with the mention of the deceased villain.

"Your body naturally absorbs and channels this energy without the emeralds Sonic. However, it appears there are many other side effects to your gift other then super speed. You are able to use the emeralds to gain incredible power, especially when you have all seven. But I have also just discovered that you have a unique signature in the chaos force field that only you project. I believe that the cause of my power rings blowing up is that they aren't in sync with your chaos signature."

"I'm lucky if I understood half of that" Sonic thought to himself. He then offered to Tails,

"So if you program them with my signature, they will work?"

"Yup!" Tails replied with a nod. Sonic now looked back at the console that was still operating. His eyes were drawn again to the radar screen that was still displaying two blips.

"So, I assume this blip here is me." Sonic said with his finger pointed at one dot, "What this other one?"

Tails looked at it for a few seconds looking slightly baffled. He scratched his head for a second and then said,

"It...It must be the chaos emerald."

The fox now opened the panel under the control console. Nestled between the wires inside, Sonic could see the green glow of the chaos emerald that they had seized from Metal. Tails now tapped a few buttons on a keyboard and then moved away from the console.

"Hang on Sonic, my ring creator should now be set with your signature."

Sonic looked again at the radar screen and was stunned to see that a blip on the screen was moving away from him. He peaked back underneath the console to see the chaos emerald was not moving.

"Got it Sonic! Here!" Tails tossed the ring at his friend who caught it in his left hand. The ring glowed immediately but did not explode. Sonic looked at the object with curiosity. It indeed felt like holding a chaos emerald, like holding a thousand emeralds at once.

There was a loud buzz.

"That's the video comm Sonic. It must be Professor Varda!" Tails took off running to the other side of his workshop. Sonic looked over his shoulder to see that again, the blip on the radar was moving again. He shrugged at it and ran to join Tails.

"Thank goodness you answered Tails! I was worried about you and Sonic after hearing the reports on your battle in the north."

Professor Varda looked stunningly realistic through the projector that hosted the communication. Tails responded,

"I'm really sorry about that professor. We barely made it out of there alive. It looks like Metal Sonic, a sort of henchman robot of Eggman has taken over."

"Is he the one behind these attacks or the kidnappings?" Varda asked.

"I didn't see any of those cyborg there, and we were in his factories before he confronted us. You said kidnappings?"

Varda nodded back and said,

"Several humans and Mobians are now confirmed missing. Including the daughter of Imperator Cobald."

Tails didn't miss the scowled that etched on the old man's face. He only scratched his head and said.

"We saw no other living things there but us."

"I was afraid of that..."

Tails looked back up to see that the gravely old voice that said those words were coming from another face. An elderly brown bear was now looking at Sonic and Tails. His eyes bulged from a fat laden face and he wore a well tended uniform of the MSF. Four silvery stars were pinned to his collar.

"Hiya General Brashen!" Sonic said brightly.

"Still in one piece I see Sonic the Hedgehog, that is good. We will need you in this escalating conflict." The General replied as he examined the blue hero with his bulging eyes.

"What do you mean? The humans aren't seriously trying to start a war are they?" Tails blurted out.

"I believe they are doing just that young Miles Prower. Cobald is holding me personally responsible for the disappearance of his daughter. We have diplomats meeting with him now, but things do not seem they will turn for the best. If the humans want a war, then we will give them one that they will regret."

"But...but General...sir, we can't go to war. There is no reason the humans would kidnap the daughter of one of their own leaders. There is also no reason they would send cyborgs to attack us if plenty of living humans are so enthusiastic in murdering us in person."

"Then who is doing it? Robotnik is dead and you said yourself that his successor was not producing the cyborgs in his factories. The attacks have continued even after you destroyed his base."

Tails was silent, straining his brain cells to produce a plausible answer. The General gave everyone a few silent moments before he continued.

"You are so much like you father Miles. He too was a man who despised war. Exceptionally bright, brave and dedicated. I know he would have been proud to have a son like you. But unfortunately, we cannot assume that our adversaries to the west have benevolent intentions. I will be prepared to defend our people."

With those final words, the General left the screen with Varda returning. Tails immediately cried out to him.

"Professor! We can't let this happen! I know there is someone else behind these attacks."

"I agree Tails. But we are running out of time. You and Sonic need to find Annie; Cobald's daughter."

Sonic now stepped up to say,

"Eggman had a lot more bases then just the Scrap Brain. Maybe Metal is hiding her at one of those."

Varda looked away from the projector and the two heroes could hear the tapping of keys. They then heard him say,

"Some rumors from northern clans indicate robot activity in Whitocropolis for the past few years. I know MSF has investigated some of these sightings but have yet to find Eggman or any solid evidence of him having a presence there."

"We're on it professor!" Tails proclaimed looking over to Sonic who was giving him a solid thumbs up.

Lisa opened her eyes to feel cold and physically weak. She searched her thoughts and the last thing she could vividly remember was yelling. Yelling at a wicked and menacing large man. Somehow, she found the strength to lift her body up from the cold steel floor. Aside from muscle fatigue, she could find no wounds to explain her lost time and transport to the dark jail cell.

"Finally awake are you?"

Lisa felt herself jump several feet in the air. The fur along her back and tail were puffed outwards by the adrenaline that surged through her veins. The frightened fox twisted her body around to see through the shadows, a small human girl sitting in the corner. She could make out the others gray eyes staring warily at her. For a few moments, they both remained silent. Then the girl slowly blinked her eyes and commented,

"I can't believe I would be placed in the presence of one of the savages from the east. Oh what my father would say if he saw this..."

Lisa could now tell that the adolescent human was quietly crying, yet the anger of being called a savage could not be contained in her heart. Was her step father really right about the humans?

"I am no savage. Why would you say that to me? Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

The girl was still sobbing but her eyes widened with Lisa's proud words. She stopped crying to say,

"Oh my god, you really do understand me and can even speak. I will surely parish, please oh please do not torment me like the rest of your kind."

She then got up and walked to face Lisa. As the girl moved into better lighting, Lisa could now make out the lean figure of a female human in her pre-teens. Her sandy blond hair reached down to her waste and she wore a tattered garment which Lisa suspected to have once been a well crafted designer dress. Once the girl was directly in front of Lisa, she turned her head to the side and said,

"Please just slice my neck and be done with it miss fox."

Lisa was speechless. Why did this human think she wanted to kill her? The girl was now noticeably trembling from head to toe, waiting for what she thought was inevitable. She had no idea what to do, she had never killed anyone and her life, and had no intention to kill any innocent little girls. But she could sense that the girl in front of her had been through much torment at the hands of Robotnik, just as she had. Lisa did the best thing she could imagine that would comfort her new roommate. She gave the trembling blonde girl a hug. And as she did so, she said aloud in the softest voice that her larynx would allow,

"Please trust me, I won't hurt you. I'm scared just like you. Your Human, I'm Mobian, but I'm sure we can put that aside and be friends. My name's Lisa, Lisa Prower from the East Plains. Who are you and how did you get here?"

The human pulled back and looked warily at the fox for a few moments. And then she answered in a cautious tone,

"Annie Cobald. Daughter of the Imperator of the ruling family. I...I did not know how it would be to see or meet a Mobian. Daddy told me you all are blood thirsty monsters. Maybe your an exception and not so blood thirsty."

Lisa was still amazed by the reaction of this girl. She had not known any human s in her life. How could they think her and her civilization monsters? She sat down by the still wary looking Annie and said,

"I never knew that we were thought of as violent. I grew up on a farm with my step mother and father. We hate violence."

"Step parents?"

"My...my real parents and little brother died when I was seven. Killed by Robotnik."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Annie responded somewhat curtly. Lisa looked up to see that Annie was staring somewhat blankly at the wall. The young girl continued with,

"I'm not too sure what I would do if I lost daddy. I would be the one to rule our people if he was gone. I would be the first woman to do so too."

This caused her to beam with pride. But the vixen was now refocused on their confinement at the hands of the mad scientist. Surely the disappearance of such an important human would not go unnoticed by the human ruling families...

"How did you get stuck here?"

"I don't remember it much really. I was sleeping in my bed when I was woken up by Wes, one of the body guards daddy assigned to me. He said that the palace was under attack and that he needed to take me somewhere safe. I got up and followed him through the black corridors, but some big scary robot stopped us. Wes tried to stop him, but his armor was too strong. The robot killed him and took me away. The next thing I know, I'm looking at that big fat man. He told me that he was keeping me as his guest to use against my father."

Lisa now stretched out her soft, fur covered hand out to Annie. The teenage girl looked down at it, not puzzled but recognizing the familiar gesture. She thought for few moments and then, put her own pale, bony hand into it. Their eyes met and Lisa said to her new friend,

"We will escape Annie. We will! Eggman must be stopped! He is trying to pit our two peoples against each other again so that he can take over the world. We can stop him, we just need to work together."

Lisa smiled for the first time and finally said,

"Maybe daddy was wrong about you furries, I am with you Lisa Prower of the East Plains."


	8. Chapter 8: Chasing Shadows

Chapter 8: Chasing Shadows

Air breezed through many bristles of fur. From the many white whiskers in his muzzle to the three long bangs that sprouted off his forehead, Miles Prower felt the gale brush his whole body. This caused him to shiver a bit as this gust was arctic, fresh from the frozen tundra of Whitocropolis. Yet despite the uncomfortable temperatures of the open cabin aboard the Tornado, Tails was greeted with a view of the spectacular sunset as another day ended in northern Mobius. The disappearing sun reflected bright orange across the pristine, untouched white powder that covered the region year round.

The fox pilot took his eyes off of the horizon to check on his co-pilot. Although the word co-pilot could be considered inaccurate since Sonic was not in any place to pilot the aircraft. Instead he was perched on top of the hull, holding onto the rear mounted gun controls of the plane. His blue quills waved vibrantly in the air and his emerald eyes refracted the mellow sunlight. He too was surveying the wide uninhabited landscape that they both traveled over it.

"You alright up there Sonic?"

Sonic took his gaze off of the snow and he looked at his pilot giving him a cocky smile with a thumbs up. Tails giggled back at him returning his thumbs up. The fox now returned his focus to his control panel, the gauges on it were practically unchanged as the Tornado was still on coarse and running smoothly. But despite this surprisingly event less flight into the north, he and Sonic had yet to discover any trace of Dr. Robotnik. Tails knew that time was not on their side and that if they had any chance at calming the storm that was rising in the South, he had to find the hidden Eggman base.

"Fiona?" he called to the control panel.

"Tails my dear!". The dark red holographic fox appeared in front of Tails, giving him a very suggestive wink to go along with her welcoming grin.

"Any signs of Eggman?" he asked, trying to ignore the irritating gestures that the young engineer was that certain he didn't program into this AI.

"None my darling." she replied while examining her perfectly manicured claws on her left hand.

Tails frowned at this as he took another panoramic gaze of the surrounding ground below.

"May I make a suggestion cutie Tails?"

"Only if you stop calling me that..." Tails muttered while looking back at the giggling Fiona.

"Perhaps you should head further North. You've been circling outside the area that Eggman is reported to be in for several hours now."

She snapped her fingers and the coordinates of the area she was suggesting to search in appeared on the console screen. Tail's could feel his cheeks turn slightly red in humiliation. But he noted the coordinates and adjusted the plane's coarse to intersect. Sonic noticed this and held on as they turned in the new direction

"Where we going buddy? Did you find it?"

"Not yet Sonic, but I think Eggman should be further north." Tails yelled back at the hedgehog.

"Lets get 'em then!"

The red biplane soured onwards, through the high arctic air. The sun continued to set on horizon and the orange fox found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. The dials and panels showed no new information to grab his attention. And now that Tails thought about it, he realized that he hadn't gotten much sleep in the last week, with Sonic in coma on his bed and his determination to unlock the secrets of chaos energy. He tapped a button on the console with his gloved hand.

"Letting me take over my darling?" Fiona responded as Tails took both hands off the controls allowing the auto-pilot to fly.

"Y-yeah Fiona. Don't crash it alright?" He replied lazily as he shifted his position in the leather seat. The fox then wrapped his tails around much of his torso as possible and allowed his eyes to close completely.

He had never felt so relaxed before. His brain felt like it was pleasantly vibrating with rejuvenating energy. It was leaking into his blood vessels and spreading through his body. Tails took advantage of his position, outside of the conscious world yet not in the uncontrollable realm of dreams and restful sleep.

They floated around him. Images that were so real that he felt he was living them. Some of them were of the distant past, others hinted of an unrealized future. But one of these images pushed the others aside and stretched across the fox's mind like a rubber band. He not only could see, but hear, feel and taste.

He was looking out his window again, surveying the lush forest that covered most of the land behind his house. Miles didn't know why he couldn't sleep. Was it the loud crickets occupying the grassy forest floor outside or the full moon hovering over the tree line? No.

Miles left his window to look at himself in a small mirror in the corner. The fox the stared back at him would be four years old tomorrow. His ice blue irises lit up in renewed excitement and he felt his back fur flutter as his tails whipped the air behind him. The young fox cub reached around to examine his unique characteristic. His mommy, daddy and sister all had tails, brownish in color with a white tip. But somehow, he was created wrong, he had one extra one of these appendages then all of the other foxes he knew. Miles tugged at both of them and was re-assured that his nerves within them returned the same sensation. They had earned him both wonder and scorn from his pre-school mates, but Miles couldn't help it but feel proud of them. A curious sound distracted the pup as he perked his furry ears up to listen closer. It came from outside.

Miles peaked back over the window seal, out to the forest. He spotted the change in his previous view of the backyard. Behind the dense foliage was a feint red light that was periodically fading and returning. His heart jolted as he pondered the possibility that his wusell trap had finally caught something. Lisa had told him all about the eight legged, eight handed beasts that roamed the forest. He couldn't understand why she giggled a lot, but the knowledge of them motivated him to catch a live one to impress his big sister.

The fox crept over to his bedroom door, which he opened just a crack. The utter darkness in the hallway assured the child that his parents were fast asleep. Miles then went back over to the window and climbed over the edge. The short drop knocked the wind out him, but the fox was able to keep his coughs and gasps quite. He looked around the area and was confident that he was still alone. Rising back to his bare, fur covered feet, he entered the forest. As he edged closer and closer to the glowing red light, he could hear a high pitched buzz. This sound made Miles feel increasingly anxious. Lisa never told him if a wusell made any sounds. Would he be the first to discover this?

Miles made it past the final clearing and he was shocked with what he saw. He had dug a deep pit into the forest floor with his father's shovel and covered it with the fallen branches that he found in the area. But his carefully laid trap did not hold the mythical beast that his sister had told him about, but a steel gray bipedal robot. Its legs where pointed straight towards the sky, moving futilely as it attempted to escape its trap. The fox heard its creepy voice call out,

"Unit A409 reporting malfunction, unidentified life form in proximity, requesting immediate assistance."

He had only heard of robots from his father. He wouldn't divulge many details, but he mentioned that the humans had built some robots for the great war. The subject of robots and sentient, non organic life was taboo to everyone. He had asked his teacher about them once and was reproved as if he had said a bad word. Now he finally got to see a robot up close. His curiosity overcame his caution and he got closer to the struggling machine saying,

"Don't worry mister robot, I'll help you get out of there. I'm sorry you fell into my wusell trap."

But as the pup was within reaching distance of the robot, a commanding voice behind him said.

"Get away from it you meddling little freak."

Miles jumped and turned to see a man seated in a hovering machine staring at him through blue spectacles. He had only seen a human once before, when an ambassador came to speak to the mayor of the town about some dispute. He only saw him from the distance, but the one in front of the fox now was much different. He was very fat, so much so that his crimson red tunic with golden lace was inflated like a balloon. He had no hair, save for his distinct brownish-red mustache.

"How unfortunate. I came here to simply pay a visit to my neighboring fury friends and this is the welcome I get? A rude little child breaks one of my toys."

Miles was shaking more then he ever had in his short life. The creepy man was glaring at him with more anger then his mother or father had when he did something wrong. This stranger was enraged with his mistake and the young pup knew that a swift punishment would be coming his way. But he summoned what courage he could find and answered,

"I-I'm v-very sorry mister. H-h-honest. I can try a-and fix him sir. I have fixed broken toys and things a-around my house. P-p-please don't hurt me."

"Oh ho! A little fox, a mutant fox I should say, is going to fix my own robots....HAH! These machines were created by the mind of a genius kid. You have no business touching them. But I will make you pay for your foolishness."

The madman touched a button on his hovercraft and the amber glowing light at the front of his machine turned dark red. Miles wondered what this was. But the light grew brighter and brighter, Miles closed his eyes from the painful light and maniacal laughter echoed in his ears. His heart raced in panic and the fox cub screamed now in terror as he was certain that death was only seconds away. Then suddenly, it all stopped, everything except the laughter.

Miles opened his eyes again to see the light was once again a dim amber and the fat man in the hovercraft was deep in laughter. His many layers of glutton rolled with his involuntary motions as he convulsed in delight. Miles also noticed that his groin and parts of his legs felt wet, he looked down in horror to see he had lost his bladder in his moment of fear.

Humiliation, fear and hopelessness caused Miles to loose what remained of his serenity and he fell to the ground crying. Why had he sneaked out of his safe home? Why did he build a dangerous trap in the middle of this forest? He felt like such a fool and now he was going to die. He wished he could turn back the clock and stop this before it began.

"Oh what a childish cry baby. Look at the poor little fox who wet himself and cries."

The fat man said as he looked down at the Mobian in malevolence.

Miles looked back at the man, his face twisted into a combination of both disgust and rage.

"AM NOT!" he bellowed at the man.

"I'm afraid you are kid. However, I'm going to make you a deal. One that will save you from my wrath."

Miles stopped sobbing so that he could listen better.

"Go as far away from here as fast as possible. If I see you again, you will pay for your insult to me. Go now and run fast little boy."

The fox was frozen solid as the words replayed themselves in his head. Then the man screamed,

"GO!"

Miles jumped instantly to his feet an ran as fast as he could away from there. Away from the man and far away from his home. He passed many trees, going deeper into the forest then he had ever been in his life. The fox thought little, setting aside the energy for thought to propel his body away from that scary man. He was taken further by surprise when he noticed that his excess speed was not coming from his feet, but from his twin tails. He looked at his backside to see them spinning like a ceiling fan, pushing him rapidly across the ground. Miles continued to flee through the night, until he finally passed out in a spot far away from home.

A smash of metal on metal made Tails jolt to life. He opened his eyes to find himself back inside the Tornado. However he looked around to see the plane was spinning out of control, red alarm lights were flashing on his console. Tails quickly grabbed the controls as he attempted to restore the troubled plane.

"Loosing altitude, must pull up. What happened." Tails cried through gritted teeth has he pulled back on the yoke of the doomed plane.

"Losing hydraulic pressure, engine power fading. Missile interception suspected as cause. Unable to maintain altitude," Fiona's voice boomed from the flight computer.

"Do something Tails!" Sonic screamed from behind. The blue hedgehog was coughing from the smoke coming from the damaged fuselage. He was still holding on tightly to the gun controls, hoping that his friend would be able to recover from the attack.

Tails didn't respond. His instincts from many hours in flight took control. He flipped switches on his console, activating the emergency hydraulic system and issued for all power to go to the engines. He also flipped the cover on a usually guarded switch, this one activated an emergency beacon that would alert Doctor Varda of his plight.

The fox pilot now scanned the ground ahead, looking for an area flat enough. Unfortunately, they had picked a bad time to be flying over a large glacier. This frozen river was far from flat as the moving ice carried massive boulders along its path, making it a deadly landing strip. Tails then looked to the left to see a smoother, snow covered plan. He dared to test the failing control systems and push the plane to that heading. His gambit worked and the Tornado was now inching closer to the designated landing zone.

Tails clinched his teeth as he lowered the power to the engines allowing the plan to loose altitude much more quickly. The long awaited sensation of landing finally came and the red biplane plowed through the snowy plane. Both landing wheels were ripped off the fuselage and the engine finally sputtered off. Tails felt powerless to stop as the plane spun and spun until the friction of the snow brought it to a screeching halt.

The fox looked around in amazement with his survival and was glad to also see that Sonic was also alive and moving. He now unbuckled his restraint belts and started to climb out of the plane. The sun had fallen by now and a strong wind was picking up from the north. Tails stepped back from the plane, Sonic following. The damage was severe by his calculations, nothing he could repair out here. Sadness befell him as he started to truly realize this,

"The Tornado, it's lost..."

"Don't worry Tails, I'm sure you can rebuild it." Sonic responded.

Tails continued to stare at his demolished vehicle, knowing that his best friend hadn't the slightest idea of what he had put into building the Tornado. However, the fox did walk back to the wreckage to extract a few items.

"Here Sonic!" Tails threw a leather backpack at the standing hedgehog. Sonic opened it to see survival equipment and food.

"You sure do know how to prepare."

"I've learned to when working with you. Never a dull moment." Tails answer with a smile.

Tails grabbed the second pack that he had put in the plane for himself and grabbed a long, yellow electronic device from behind the console. It had a blank black screen and was no larger then a dictionary. The fox held his gloved hand over a button for a few seconds and was satisfied to see the screen glow to life.

"I thought you had forgotten me Tails." called the voice of Fiona Fox. She we staring back at here creator with a crossed look.

"'Coarse not Fiona. We are going to need your help now more than ever. For starters, when and how did the Tornado get hit by a missile?"

Sonic came over to join the conversation. Fiona took a few moments to process the unseen data and then gave her answer.

"It came from behind from behind. Heat seeking, Marauder class anti air projectile developed exclusively by Ivo Robotnik."

"I knew it! Where'd it get launched from babe? Do you have the cords?" Sonic pressed with excitement.

"Right here my sexy hedgehog"

Fiona's image disappeared from the screen, replaced by a map of Whitocropolis. A red dot pinged at the indicated source of the launch.

"An easy jog for this guy!"

Sonic began to stretch his thin legs in preparation. Tails was frowning though, he looked closer at the data screen before saying,

"Hang on Sonic. This area is completely uncharted and it's late in the fall. Running straight there in these temperatures can be dangerous."

"Not for me little buddy, We've survived the ice caps of Angel Island. This will be a piece of cake."

"But there are mountains and waterways ahead of us. It will take longer then you think to get there safely. And that spot may not be the main base Sonic. It could be just a launchpad that Eggman controls remotely."

The mention of water, especially cold water defiantly got Sonic's attention. He paced around the fox for a few moments until he conceded.

"Alright. Lets do it your way."

"We can still run, Just not at mach 1. We will need to take regular breaks and rest at night." Tails finished as he stuffed the yellow computer into his survival pack.

He was on his feet again, passing back and forth from his desk to his book case. A cool, night air brushed through his thinning hair. His restless fingers fidgeted with the cold, metal pocket knife that he kept in his right pocket. A last heirloom, passed to him from his father before he died. "Do only what benefits all." A family motto, certainly from the old civilizations of earth, was inscribed in the hidden blade.

The professor withdrew the object form his pocket. The rare metal of which it was constructed still captivated his mind. Mined from a long gone comet that orbited the solar system of his race's home world, it was blacker than night and harder than diamond.

But what had the mind of old professor Varda was not his father or the distant past, but the alarming situation that seemed to grew worse by the hour. Just earlier, he had received a distress signal from the north. Obviously, his favorite student and friend, Tails, had encountered a problem. Varda had sent his aides to establish contact with the aviator by any means necessary. Five hours have now passed without further word. He was beginning to fear the worse.

"At least Sonic is with him. And they both have certainly faced monumental challenges..." the old man muttered to himself.

But he shook his head again, increasing the speed of which he was pacing. Luck certainly ran through the veins of both the hedgehog and fox. What would happen when that ran out? There was a knock on his polished wooden door.

Finals week was rapidly approaching, and Varda suspected that another Mobian student would be waiting for him at the door. He knew that he was not considered to be "easy" from the whispers of the student body. But the good professor knew that he gave his students the gift of wisdom and knowledge. A reward for their academic extortion. They would one day thank him.

So Varda approached the door to greet his waiting visitor. And right as he reached to twist to brass handle, it turned itself as the door swung itself open. The visitor invited himself in without word from the professor. Varda, of coarse, was surprised by this sudden and rude action. But his scolding lips slammed shut as his aged, gray eyes beheld the figure of his visitor.

A man stood before him. Varda reckoned him to be relatively young, no older then thirty. His lean and muscular build was concealed by a pristine, starched, light blue uniform. The professor recognized this as an outfit belonging to a Narbodian diplomat. These where the only humans who should be in the city, besides the professor himself. He knew from the news and his government contacts that negotiations to resolve the crisis between Mobians and Humans was very much a failure. Why would a diplomat who should be so busy talking to Mobians wish to speak to a relatively unimportant, exiled human such as himself?

"Doctor Varda of Mobotropolis University. It is an honor to meet you once again." The man bowed his head, but kept his cautious eyes locked with Varda's.

"I'm sorry but I do not remember meeting you. Who are you and why have you barged into my office?"

"Don't you recognize me sir? It has certainly been a while, but I wouldn't think you would forget one of your own students."

Varda stepped back, thinking deeply. It had been almost a decade since he had taught at the military academy, before his exile. But he remembered most of his student, conscripted cadets, as being very similar in appearance. There uniforms where identical and finely pressed, their shaved heads deprived of recognizable hair and their stern discipline system deprived them of free thought or speech. How glad the professor was to be in a center where ideas where cherished, not shunned.

"It has been a while, what is your name?"

"Ingus Feral, Professor. I sat in the back of your thermal dynamics class."

"Hmmm, that name sounds familiar. But lets forget the past Ingus and tell me why you are here. I am no Mobian politician. Surely you are here to settle the dispute between the two peoples."

The doctor was looking closely at the young man, attempting to detect his hidden motives for being here. Yet the man, more a boy by Varda's standards, was a statue. A military life had certainly prepared the kid for the foreign service. He could speak what he wanted people to hear and conceal what he wanted to hide. The man now spoke to him in a hushed whisper,

"I'll be direct with you sir. The Imperator has rightfully determined that the ill peace between us and the furries is at an end. One can't reason with those which are incapable of reason. They have not caved to our demands and the continue to hold the heir to the throne captive. The time for diplomacy is at a close."

Stern grey eyes stared closely at the Cobaldian diplomat. The young man stood his ground and waited for Varda to respond.

"Why are you still here Ingus if you feel that talking is so fruitless?"

"A soldier does not engage in battle until he knows that the battle has already been won. I am here to engage your services Professor Varda."

The old man laughed. The situation couldn't be more ridiculous. This caught Ingus by a bit of surprise and he replayed his words inside his head to search for any unintentional humor. But Varda answered this for him,

"I was exiled from my homeland ten years ago boy. By Cobald himself. What does that old fool think he can get from me that would be of any use?"

"His excellency understands that you are close in the trust of the Mobian leadership. Your position would allow you to pass on vital information for the safety of humanity. The Grand Imperator told me himself that he would grant you full pardon and reinstatement of your position at the academy. Just a small taste of the gratitude he will show you for loyalty."

The old man could feel the blood pounding hard against his ear drums. He knew his medication for his blood pressure would not be capable of containing the anger he felt at those words. Who did Cobald think he was? Could he really be this foolish and think that his friendship was for sale? Varda did not reply to him, but crossed his arms and stared daggers back at his former student.

Ingus refined his thoughts a bit and then pulled something out of his pocket. The device was no larger then a deck of playing cards. It was a plain silver with a single knob on it. The young man placed into the hand of the elder man and then said,

"This is an untraceable communicator. I have the other one." Ingus pulled an identical one out of his other pocket to show.

"The furries are finished doctor and it is time you came home and showed a bit of loyalty to your own people. I'll speak with you further on the other side."

Ingus now turned and began to walk towards the study door. There was a load crash, and fragments of metal and circuit board fell to the burgundy carpet floor. A fresh dent in the dark wood paneled wall indicated the place where the device had met its demise. Now with Varda's answer, he lowered his head with his back still turned to the other man.

"I....I was afraid you would say that professor. I am sorry. I was hoping you would see reason, but it seems that living amongst the furries has diminished that. But he gave me orders should you choose plan B."

His hand slid back into his pocket and this time he drew a small leather case. This flipped open and inside was a set of syringes that he prepared for this occasions. He grabbed one of these and removed the safety cap from the needle tip. The case went back in his pocket and he turned to face his victim.

Varda stepped back and growled,

"What is this?"

"Is it not clear professor? You know too much to be kept alive. Now take it easy and it'll be painless for the both of us." Ingus replied as he held the needle up and stepped closer to his old teacher.

Varda wanted to cry for help, but he knew there was nobody around to hear him. He continued to step back until he bumped into the front of his large desk. The lamp on the corner fell over and the glass shade shattered.

Ingus was now almost on top of him. The old man pushed away. But the younger man approached again. The professors second shove was more violent then the first and almost knocked Ingus off his feet. But the young diplomat smiled and approached again. This time he grabbed the old man's thin fist as he pushed away again. He drew the needle closer and said while making direct eye contact.

"Good bye professor."

But he didn't notice the old man's other hand slid into his pocket. It grabbed hold of an unseen metal object and unfolded it while still concealed. He then, with all his strength, thrusted it straight at his attackers neck.

Ingus went instantly numb, as if all the cells below his neck were frozen solid. He wanted to reach up and feel the foreign object lodged in his neck, but he spit out blood instead. A pool of crimson blood gathered and stained the heavy carpet.


	9. Chapter 9: The Ice People

Chapter 9: The Ice People

Another shock jolted through her arm as the vixen pulled back. She sat there for a second, placing her upper index finger in her mouth to sooth it. She reckoned that at this rate, she and her friend would escape from this cell in a few decades.

"More wires?" A voice called from behind.

Lisa swiveled on the floor to see her concerned, new friend looking intently at her. She nodded and turned back to resume work. Oh how hopelessly stupid she felt when it came to working with this stuff. Lisa couldn't help it but remember her little brother. She previously avoided these memories but recent events pushed them back to the front of her brain. He was such a wiz with electronics. Actually, with anything mechanical. She found that even she, five years his elder, was learning things from his curious and sharp mind.

This, however, was not helping her in her quest to escape. The lack of windows, a clock or even regular meals had caused the young fox to loose track of the time she had spent as a prisoner. Dr. Robotnik was very committed to keeping her as a pocket ace should he require it against his most daring foes. But Lisa was ripe with determination, along with her cell mate Annie, to escape and stop the mad scientist.

She only needed to open this door. And from the irregular intervals that it opened, only because a mindless metal drone was delivering food, she could tell that it was controlled by an electronic lock. Using a flat piece of an earing that Annie was previously wearing, she was able to unscrew and remove the panel that she believed to guard the security mechanism. Yet nothing could prepare the fox for the mess was hidden by the plate of metal. A huge mass of wires of every imaginable color were tangled and meshed together.

Lisa wanted to just snap all of them in half, but Annie wisely pointed out that these veins of electrical equipment could control more then just the cell door. Disabling them could cause much of the station to shutdown and swift retribution on those who caused it. Instead she used her limited knowledge and a lot of intuition to guess the right wires to cut. Stressed to get the best view of it all, she tugged the bulky mesh far aside and was surprised to feel a cool breeze brushing the fur on her face. Was this cell on the edge of the compound? Could they find a way to escape through this hole?

"Annie! Come over here! I think I found something." The fox called to the one behind her. Annie crawled over to the opening in the wall and stared blankly at the wall. Lisa could tell that the human had no idea of what she was talking about.

"Don't you feel that?"

Annie got closer but then pulled sharply back.

"Its cold" she proclaimed. Lisa nodded and said,

"There must be an air vent or even an opening to the outside."

She reached deep now into the opening and felt her hands hit metal. This metal seemed extremely malleable as she had touched it with very little force. Lisa now pushed both hands onto it. The metal was extremely cold to the touch. She ran her hands now outwards and now felt the sides of what she suspected to be an air vent now.

Lisa was surprised by just how soft the metal was. She pulled back, using her legs to leverage against the wall to pry the duct siding off. With a loud crack, the plate was ripped out of place and Lisa fell back onto the floor of the cell. A gust of cold air swept into the room, and both Annie and Lisa could see strong light coming from the previously dark hole in the wall. The two females smiled at each other and Lisa was the first to crawl into the newly discovered pathway.

The wind was strong enough to pierce her low lying fur and make the skin beneath quiver and sprout goose bumps. She helped Annie into the tunnel and they both turned to see that the light was indeed coming from outside. A large grate, perhaps five feet in diameter, guarded the vent from intruders. Lisa was excited now, she felt so close to freedom. She felt along the rime of the grate for screws. Lisa did indeed find them. She once again employed Annie's ear ring as an improvised screwed driver and began to loosen the bolt. The fox was breathing harder now and left large breaths in the cold air. she worked her fingers to remove the bolt.

The first screw fell out. Lisa lifted her head to look out onto what was a frozen tundra. She let out a particularly large breath. The white mist went through the gate, but in it, two feint red beams appeared long enough for Lisa to notice. Annie, who was leaning over her shoulder also saw these and frowned. But she then proclaimed,

"There has to be another way out of this place."

Lisa got up and began walking in the other direction, deeper into the installation with Annie following closely.

Tails never knew he could shiver so much in his life. Typically, he was immune to the anguish of cold weather thanks to his thick orange fur. But this was a different cold. The kind that makes your joints constrict and squeal with pain. The kind that froze the oils inside your hair, plastering the strands to the delicate skin. The wind propelled a non stop fury of snow flakes into his squinted blue eyes, which he used to look back.

The fox saw nothing but a violent white void. The knee deep footprints that he and Sonic added to the landscape were quickly being refilled by the endless snowfall from above. Tails' knew that his beloved, wrecked plane was now buried beneath tons of ice. The work of his own two hands, Tails' couldn't prevent his heart from sinking with grief. It was the plane that once belonged to Sonic, though today it was nothing like the little red biplane he had first fell in love with a year ago.

No, he had modified and mutated that air craft from an ill maintained plane from a forgotten century to become a modern fighting machine. The one that would twice save Sonic from the Death Egg and discover the legendary Angel Island. Tails' knew it did not deserve such a fruitless death. Being shot down by a feeble, unseen missile and then buried unceremoniously in the Whitocropolis tundra. He would come back and recover it.

"If I come back." He silently reminded himself. These words surprised Tails, someone who always prided himself in endless optimism. He thought about this for a while, there being nothing else to do but walk further through the arctic horror.

Somehow, the young fox could sense something had changed. He looked to his left and was glad to see that at least some of Sonic's blue, close lying fur had not been covered by ice. The hedgehog had given up on running. The frost at his normal speeds was causing half of his body parts to freeze.

But Tails could sense that this was not like the last adventure. Eggman, whom he was very certain was behind all of this, was playing his cards differently. The mad scientist always preferred grandeur over subtlety. Could his last defeat have finally pushed the man from being just slightly crazy to become an outright lunatic?

He never mentioned it to Sonic, But Tails had taken another look at the corpses of the terrorists who attacked the Mobotropolis Bank. Lucky for him, one of them was barely touched by the explosion that had demolished that building nearly two weeks ago. The fox poked around at the body for hours, the memory of which still made his stomach churn with unease. What he saw was unlike anything he could ever imagine. Mobians did appreciate technology and they have advanced greatly with it. Allowing themselves to keep up with their neighboring humans in innovation. Yet there were still some major philosophical differences between the two civilizations on the role of technology.

Robotics tended to be an area where this disagreement was most prevalent. The vast majority of Mobians viewed life as eternally sacred and were generally troubled with the idea of giving inanimate steal the ability to move of its own free will. Tails though knew he had a different view on this and he certainly pushed the ethical boundary when he created Fiona. But the robot that lied on his workbench was assembled at such a meticulous level of detail and precision, he started to doubt it was human or Mobian in origin.

Tails had taken apart and even reverse engineered some of Robotnik's robots in the past. These machines in Mobotropolis were different. It was like the steel and gears had molded themselves together. The design and layout of the machine looked startlingly familiar, but the architecture was that of a machine. Tails searched through his collection of books and finally found it, he opened the first page and on it was the illustrated picture of human body. It became clear as he dissected more of the torso, the robot was in every way a human. A human built not with living cells, but with metal and plastic.

Tails bit his lip slightly. He wanted to tell Sonic. But the idea of turned flesh to metal was so bizarre and far-fetched, that he suspected he would just get laughed at. He always wanted to have a logical explanation for his discoveries, even if Sonic wouldn't understand half of it. Tails knew he had to find Eggman's base and locate the machine or find the process that the mad man was using to create these horrible machines. He lifted the yellow data pad that was idling in his gloved right hand. The black screen buzzed to life with his motion and the red fox greeted Tails with a smile.

"Fiona! Any idea of how far we are or where exactly the entrance to Robotnik's base is?" Tails struggled to ask through the violent wind.

Fiona looked to her left for a moment. Something she normally did when she was processing information. She then made a pointing stick appear in her right hand along with a very large made of Whitocropolis. The point of the stick landed at a particular point on the map and she explained,

"You are here my darling, according to the satellites."

She then moved her pointer to a nearby area of the map and moved it around in circles.

"This is the suspected location of Ivo Robotnik's base. No precise point is noted because there has been no confirmed spotting of this base."

Tails nodded at the screen and looked over at Sonic who overheard this. The challenge weighed heavier on the hero as time was running out. Tails reckoned by the tone and duress that Varda had shown in their last conversation, war would break out within days if he and Sonic did not find Cobald's daughter. Fiona had not disappeared from the datapad screen. The AI now called out to her creator,

"Tails"

The fox looked down at her.

"It will be dark soon my dear. You and Sonic really should take shelter. If you think the weather is bad now, you will think differently when you have experienced a Whitocropian night out in the open. That's if you survive of coarse."

Fiona blew a kiss at Tails before he glanced over at Sonic for his opinion. The hedgehog was still shivering, unable to run and keep his body warm in this blizzard. He was frown and said,

"My ears are frozen solid Tails. Lets find a place away from this wind to rest tonight."

The fox couldn't agree more with this. But the problem was going to be finding cover in this open plain. There were no trees to hide in or hills that would provide a side cave to retreat into. But the gears inside Tails' mind twisted and turned and he remembered something that his dad had told him about when he was a pup.

He missed his dad, who would always tell him stories before bed. Sometimes they were read from a large leather book that rested on his nightstand and sometimes, his father told him stories that he had remembered or made up. One story Tails always wanted his dad to tell him was when he when he journey north, not far from here with his own father. They had built a house out of snow, pure snow! It seemed so unreal to the young fox at the time, mainly because he had never seen snow. But Tails' father had even drawn a picture for him and this image was still etched in the back of the fox's mind.

"I know a way Sonic. Help me pack blocks of snow together."

Sonic watched first as Tails packed his first block tightly together. He then followed his friend's lead and they soon had a pile of snow bricks. These were arranged then in a circular pattern and Tails carefully laid brick on top of brick to eventually turn this circle into a low lying dome. The fox then crawled inside the newly built structure. He then poked his head out to tell the amazed hedgehog,

"Come on in Sonic, trust me, it won't fall in."

Sonic hesitated but eventually made his way inside the igloo. He felt the immediate relief as the wind no longer punished his skin. Feeling impressed, he gave his best friend a nookie and said,

"Pretty clever little guy, where did you learn to build something like this?"

Tails stopped giggling for a moment to say,

"M-my dad told me about them when I was little. He told me stories about him and his dad going through the north and spending the night in these. Its called an igloo."

Sonic whistled a wow and smiled back at the fox. The two laid down now on the snowy floor of the igloo, staring up at the ceiling and collecting their thoughts. Sonic was the first to break the silence,

"So how much further does Fiona think we'll need to go?"

Tails lifted his yellow datapad up to look at it while still lying on his back.

"Well we are almost on the border of the 'area' that it is suspected to be in. But keep in mind the area is like two hundred miles in diameter Sonic."

The hedgehog heaved chuckle and shrugged.

"We'll find it Tails. Eggy's putrid stench isn't easy to miss."

Tails stayed silent for a while. Sonic could tell the little fox was deep in though. He waited while resuming his thoughts and plans for the upcoming showdown.

"Sonic?"

"Whats up Tails?"

"I..." Tails voice faded as he returned to thought. He wasn't sure if he should proceed. He took another deep breath and continued. "I'm scared Sonic."

He didn't let Sonic answer, he just kept talking.

"Eggman doesn't look like he's playing around here. He is about to stir Mobians and Humans to Armageddon. My dad said we barely survived the last war and we certainly wouldn't if it happened again."

Tails paused to take another breath.

"I wanted to tell you earlier, but Robotnik has some sort of machine that turns living things into robots. I wanted to find more proof, but I am sure of this Sonic. He up to something very dangerous. And I don't think there is any line he wont cross now."

The fox now turned to face the stunned hedgehog before he said his final words.

"You're the only family I've got Sonic. My mom, dad and sister all died in an attack that Eggman launched on my village. I....he chased me away, scared me away. I hid in the woods afterwards until the hunger pains overtook my fear of that fat man. I found my house was destroyed and I ran away. They hated me, not knowing me in those other towns. The other foxes teased me and made fun of my extra tail. It was like that until you came. When you let me follow you, I knew you weren't like the other guys. I just want you to know that and I want you to promise me you won't do anything foolish."

There were a lot of words here that needed processing. Sonic replayed them in his head to make sure they were properly interpreted. Sonic then set his eyes on Tails before he said,

"I will little bro!"

Thew two heroes then said no more before drifting to sleep. The wind continued to pummel the frozen walls of their shelter. These gusts filled with snow flurries did not completely hide the multiple shadows that quietly drew closer to the igloo.

Far away, green lights reflected off the visor of a sleek black helmet. The brain protected within analyzed and enjoyed its ambient surroundings. Colonel Peter Havington loved night flying. He gazed out the canopy of his DS30 PHANTOM jet. The countryside was pitched black, save only from the small dots of yellow light marking the location of a house or barn. They were flying deep over Mobian territory.

"Five minutes to target sir." His rear copilot called from behind him.

Havington didn't answer, but instead looked back at the horizon. It wasn't visible yet, but their destination was just ahead. The colonel had never been to or seen this place, but he knew it was a Mobian airfield. One of the few airfields possessed by the little furries. He always wondered why they preferred not to fly.

But this airfield was not used by civilians, its instead housed fighters and bombers. Those planes, he had to destroy. The colonel knew it, his squadron would be the ones to do it, the first ones to fire back and seal themselves forever in history.

His father back home would certainly be proud. Havington regretted not being able to call him before departing. Yet he was used to this. He, just like his father, were bound by their duty. His mission, just like his father's would have to be a secret carried to the grave. The man took another deep breath.

"Two minutes to target." Came the voice behind him again.

Colonel Havington again looked to his left and right. As expected, he found the running lights of the four other PHANTOMs that formed his squadron following steadily. Most of them were young. The colonel knew them all. Most of them had never fired a shot at anything, Mobian or Human. Havington was no different. He only had more flight experience and age, the only thing that warranted his lofty rank above his 'would be' peers.

He could see it now. A cluster of lights grew larger and more distinct. Several sequencer arrows denoted the starting point of a runway. Where those runways empty as expected? They were. Havington checked his glowing green radar screen. His five birds where the only things in the sky for many miles. The air was his to command.

"Thirty seconds. Warhammer missiles one and two ready to fire on designated coordinates."

The colonel licked his hidden lips in anticipation. Gone where the days where he would have to manually program coordinates for targets given to him by air command. In some ways, Havington felt robbed of a duty that made his reign as a pilot distinct from the rest of the army. Instead, these missiles knew their victims before they were even loaded on the wings of his jet.

The anticipation was near. Cobald himself shocked the squadron by being giving the mission briefing himself. The words of the fearless imperator and de facto leader of all the ruling families held a special place in his heart. For too long had the furries held lands that were rightfully theirs. For too long had the furries unleashed their savagery on the innocent humans on the border towns of their realm. And now, they had the nerve to murder a diplomat. Havington never knew the man, he only knew that he went to the same academy him in Station Square. Now he was bringing it home. War or peace lied within the trigger that his gloved finger rested upon.

"Target locked, fire when ready!"

Colonel Havington still thought on. Could it really have come to this? Was the peace forged by his parents at Doria really coming to a close.

"Now sir! Now!"

The man pressed the trigger.


	10. Chapter 10: The Walrus and The Fox

Chapter 10: The Walrus and The Fox

Solemn serenity. The body is completely still, paralyzed with relaxation. The mind, however, embarked on its journey to escape reality in search of euphoric bliss. This purposeful state is what all beings, both Mobians and Humans enjoyed regularly. Sleep. Miles Prower, shielded from the external, harsh elements was engulfed by a deep sleep. The little fox's mind was at peace, though a new illusion, like the one he experienced on the Tornado would visit him. Not a shadow of the past, but premonition.

Tails found himself surrounded, not by unforgivable darkness, but solid crystal glass. He glanced around through the glass to see the enormity of the room he was in. Huge steel tubes ran along the floor from the walls to the center, where his prison was located. Machines were there, dozens of them big and small with lights flashing and blurred. Tails felt panic stir in his heart. He then noticed that a glass tube, just like his, was adjacent to him. It was also occupied, and the occupant was a blue hedgehog.

"Sonic!"

"Tails!" The hedgehog turned around and looked at his friend. Both hands and black nose pressed against the glass.

"Where are we Sonic? Whats going on?" Tails pleaded back. A malicious cackle answered from the shadows.

The laugh was all too familiar as was the obese body of the man who stepped onto the platform. Doctor Robotnik could not have been happier. So long had he wanted to destroy Sonic and today it was finally happening. But he wasn't just going to destroy him, he was going to gain him along with his mutant sidekick.

"Welcome, welcome Sonic to my newest and latest creation. A sheer stroke of genius I must admit." He held his hands clasped up to his cheek as he spoke. This did little hide the ear to ear smile stretch across his face.

Sonic looked both left and right then said with a smirk,

"I don't see nothin' Eggy."

Robotnik just continued to smile while adding even more politeness to his dangerous voice,

"Oh, but my dear hedgehog. Why you are my newest creation. Once the roboticizer does it's work..."

Sonic's eyes widened with realization. But reality was ignored, and the courage in his heart caused the hedgehog to jump and rev up in his classic spin. Like a bullet fresh from the muzzle of gun, he charged, spinning at high velocity into the wall of his glass cage. But instead of piercing, he rebounded, landing flat on his back.

It took a few minutes for the mad scientist to gain control of his laughter. Tails realized that the man had indeed prepared to deal with them both. Would they make it out of this one?

"Oh your determination inspires me Sonic. I certainly wouldn't have continued after the many defeats you handed me if you hadn't taught me determination. Something we both share in common my friend. And I will certainly miss you, my greatest foe. The Eggman Empire will now take it's rightful place."

Robotnik was done talking. He retreated to the nearby control console and began tapping buttons. Tails saw Sonic. His friend and hero stared at his nemesis with unfathomable loathing. The hate he saw from those usually noble and comforting green eyes made the fox tremble. What would happen to Eggman when Sonic escaped, Tails didn't want to know. But this rampage of revenge never occurred. Eggman gave a final chuckle and pulled a large lever on his console.

Green light immediately appeared above the head of the trapped hedgehog. Sonic's head shot up and his anger turned to immediate panic. And then it happened. The green light turned to a bright beam that engulfed Sonic. Tails couldn't tell if it was him or Sonic. But there was a loud scream and the transformation was so horrific, the fox covered his eyes in horror. The screams soon stopped.

Tails then summoned enough willpower to open his eye and look at the place where his hero once stood. It wasn't empty, but a being free from the constraints of ordinary life was standing there instead of Sonic. It still had solid blue metal skin and quills, but his chest did not breath in air; it had no need for such a thing. Green lights glowed inside its metal eye sockets. The glass case around him lifted up and Doctor Robotnik approached the machine.

"Well well well Sonic. How do you feel?"

"All systems normal great master. I await your command." The electronically distorted voice of Sonic echoed through Tail's ear chambers. He then saw the robotic Sonic do something he never thought he would see Sonic do, he knelt before Robotnik, the enemy of all life.

Tail's now gritted his teeth in similar anger. His blood pumped greater and he felt his tails swinging back in forth in anticipation of battle. He then announced in the most serious and deadly voice to come from his innocent lips,

"I will not let you get away with this. I will make you pay for doing this to him. You have killed everyone I have loved. You killed my parents, you killed my sister and now you have mutilated my best friend. I will not rest until you have joined them. Monster!"

Eggman pretended to show fear for just a few moments, hoping that it would provoke the fox to more fruitless threats. He then displayed a wicked smile as he approached the still trapped Tail's.

"Big words from such a small fry. Face it kid, your trapped here. You can't cut through my crystal glass. Sonic can't help you and your pathetic little gadgets are nowhere to be found. But don't worry Miles Prower, I am not a man without compassion. No, you too will join best friend in his new form. Perhaps you can lend your mind to design the new army that I will use to control this world."

Eggman marched back to his control panel and punched in the keystrokes to charge up the roboticizer. Tail's thought quickly. He knew he couldn't use his namesakes to slice through the glass, seeing that sonic couldn't spin through it. Boy did he wish he had brought some of those still not fully functional power rings with him. But as more nonviable solutions to his predicament rushed through his head, a soothing new voice interrupted his panic.

"Son of a hero, lover of good and protector of life.."

Miles looked around, but he could not find the source of the voice. He wasn't scared, the voice he heard was beautiful. He wanted to find. She continued to speak,

"When the metal finally consumed skin, when dark engulfs light, the two Prowers will unite. Powers unforeseen they shall have and their righteous wrath shall be feared."

The words were followed by brightness. Miles felt his eyes close but he reopened them slowly as his retinas adjusted to the new light. It was brighter then the sun, a burning star was in front of the two tailed fox, yet it didn't burn his eyes. He couldn't move or look away. The glory and splendor was unlike anything he had seen in his life. He didn't need to ask her who or what she was, the soothing answers flowed freely into his heart.

"The light of chaos burns bright inside your bloodline Miles Prower. May it shine throughout the void and keep the life that I have created free and safe. Never forget that."

Reality instantly returned. Tail's opened his eyes to see the cold blackness of his igloo. From the dim light he left on inside, he could see Sonic fast asleep beside him.

"I hope he gets all the sleep he needs." the fox thought to himself. The dream was comforting, but Tails was still very uncomfortable. Was that just another product of an overactive imagination? Or message from the powers? Tails sat up and pushed his mind to solve this problem. He perked his ears up a bit, the sounds from outside indicated a very vicious storm was kicking up again. Why anyone would live in this dreadful place surpassed any reasonable explanation to Tails.

THUMP!

Tails jumped and looked up at the ceiling nervously. Something hit the igloo, hard. Was it Eggman? He hardened his heart in preparation for a battle and right as he was about to wake Sonic. A second blow to the igloo walls caused the structure to cave in. Both Sonic and Tail's were buried in snow, though not for long.

"Waahh!"

Tails could hear Sonic cry out, waking up to find himself buried alive. But the hedgehog immediately felt a furry hand grab and pull him out of the snow. Sonic saw them. Shadows, at least a dozen of them surrounding the heap of ice that was his shelter from the freezing winds. They were all looking at him and had sharp spears pointed at his head. One of them leaned down and grabbed something that was also beneath the surface. Out came his friend, yanked out of the snow by one of his Tails. The fox was shivering and Sonic wasn't sure if it was their visitors or the cold that was causing this.

"Who are these guys?"

Sonic shrugged and glanced around again trying to make eye contact with the spear wielding shadows.

"You're asking the wrong guy little buddy." he replied. Tails grabbed something he was sitting on and a bright LED light illuminated the circle of creatures that surrounded them.

They were walruses, the whole lot of them. Most of them were plump and covered by thick mammoth fur that also covered the top of their heads. Sonic also noticed the strange runes on their faces. A few of the walruses had many of these on their cheeks, while some only had one large rune painted on their forehead. They all hissed at this unwanted exposure and pushed their spears closer to Tails. The little vulpine shrieked,

"Sorry, sorry guys. I just thought we needed a little light to see..."

"Just turn it off Tails. I don't think they are here for a chili-dog."

Sonic was now on his feet, flexing his muscles in anticipation of a fight. Yet diplomacy still had its priority with the peace loving hedgehog and he asked,

"What can I do for you guys?"

There was no answer. Just threatening stares. Sonic tried again,

"I'm sure there is something we can work out. My name's Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog and this is my best buddy Tails."

Tails gave a half hearted wave while nervously looking back at the crowd of walruses. He had a good feeling that none of them understood what he was saying. Yet one of these creature stepped forward and struggled with a heavily accented voice,

"Why you being here? Na'anku no like tre-e-spaser"

Sonic wanted to laugh at the butchered sentence, but his hedgehog maintained control.

"Whoa fellas, don't worry. We aren't here to harm you. We are looking for a man named Doctor Robotnik, sometimes called Eggman."

A chorus of conversation followed Sonic's words. The name Eggman certainly did ring a bell with this crowd and some nodded in an unpleasant way at their captives. The walrus spoke up again,

"We know of master of machines. You have come to begin troubles and help him. Our people have suffered at him. You will not be permitted to do that."

Angry muttering resumed amongst the sea mammals and they now held their spears more threateningly at the fox and the hedgehog. Sonic held his hands up and explained,

"You've got it all wrong friend. We are here to stop Eggman. He too has caused suffering to us. We need to find him. Can you help us?"

The leading walrus descended into thought. Sonic looked over to Tails to give him a reassuring wink. The fox nodded back. The walrus then announced,

"We take you to chief. He decide your fate."

And off to the chief they all went. Sonic and Tails marched on through the roaring winds, the semi circle of warrior walruses never ceased to look at them suspiciously. The camp the arrived at was small. Leathery animal skin was stretched across large bones to form round and inviting tents that glowed from small fires within. One of these tents was much larger then the others and this is where the two prisoners were taken. The bulk of the host stood outside while the lead walrus brought Sonic and Tails into the tent.

The two heroes were astounded by what waited for them within. The skin walls that formed the large tent was heavily painted with black, white and red paint. These colors depicted such a diverse amount of scenes, objects and abstract ideas. Sonic recognized what he though, were three walrus warriors destroying a large robot. But Tails, was instantly drawn to what appeared to be a life like star. Feminine qualities and warming comfort seemed to seep from it and the fox couldn't help but remember his dream.

In the center of the room was a good sized fire and the two prisoners welcomed its radiating warmth. And at the other side of the room, sat a massive walrus. It's skin was time worn and stretched from the massive layers of fat that was composing the bulk of its body. It wore no shirt but had a well woven skirt of pelts that extended from its waist to the ground. Whiskers, gray with age and long enough to touch the creature's shoulders moved as it finally spoke to greet his visitors,

"Welcome Sonic the Hedgehog, savior of Mobius."

The voice was hoarse, yet laden with aged wisdom. His ancient eyes were not suspicious like the other Mobians that brought the heroes here, but gleamed with delight at this meeting. Sonic still stepped back as he comprehended the plain words.

"How do you know me? And who are you anyways?"

He asked. The warrior walrus that brought them their spoke up in his incomprehensible language. The larger one responded.

"Of coarse I know him grandchild. You should have treated him with greater honor. Shame on you."

He now looked at Sonic again and smiled.

"My sincere apologies Sonic the Hedgehog. We are rather secluded from the outside world in these icy tundras. Your name has not reached the ears of all of my people. But I know of you very well. I am Ta'uko, father of the Na'anku."

"Nice to meet you big guy. We crashed in the snow not far from here. Have you seen any rotten eggs lately?"

Sonic was relaxed and no longer concerned with his surroundings. Ta'uko rubbed his hand through his long whiskers. It seemed as though Sonic's words were difficult for him to completely understand. But the answer finally came.

"The Na'anku have struggled against the evil human scientist since he first appeared on these lands nearly ten years ago. I know not where his lair is hidden."

Tails slumped noticeably and frowned.

"Nobody knows where he is. I just don't understand how a base that's supposed to house so much of his machines can be so well hidden."

"But if the little squirrel will let me finish. We have encountered and destroyed many of his robots that come to our lands. I do know of one place that he hides. It is a mine, not far from here."

Tails now narrowed his face a bit and spat out,

"The name is Tails and I'm a fox, not a blubbery...."

Sonic cupped his hand over his friend's mouth just in time, adding instead,

"Mines are always deep, and usually filled with more then just ore for Egghead's factories. Is there anyway that you can bring us there?"

The elder walrus was frowning with a look of disgust directed at Tails. But he then eased that frown as he said,

"If orange furball keeps his mouth closed, I should be able to. It is a dangerous, my warrior avoid the area. But I will grant you this favor if you give me one in return."

"Anything bud, we are kinda in a rush though. Eggman's successor's got some big plans and we only have a little time to find him and put a stop to all of this."

The walrus chuckled and answered,

"Its a simple request Sonic the Hedgehog, I require a chaos emerald."

The silence lingered in the air for seemed like forever to Tails. He looked at Sonic's face and was terrified with the possibility that his friend was actually considering this. Ignoring the decrepit Walrus' insult, he broke the silence.

"You can't be serious Sonic. You finally have all seven emeralds again. We'll need them for the fight against Eggman."

The blue hedgehog locked his eye's with Tails and blinked in unspoken understanding. But Ta'uko interjected again.

"The gems of chaos are sacred to the Na'anku and no being is entitled to all of them. Greed is not a virtue of Ando Sonic the hedgehog. His gems should not be horded by one. Their powers should be shared by all."

Tails softened his voice, holding his hands out,

"But a great part of what makes Sonic so powerful is that he can use the chaos emeralds to transform into a form that Eggman can't defeat. Can we maybe give you one after we stop him?"

Ta'uko emitted soft groans as the wheels inside his head turned. But he soon shook his head negatively and said,

"My offer is final Sonic the Hedgehog. I know of your honor and valor, but there are limits to our reach of trust. I require your chaos emerald."

Sonic's mind cycled through a circle of indecision. The hedgehog was no closer to finding Eggman's base now than he was two days ago. Without any help, he knew that the war would escalate beyond control. He had to find that girl and appease the humans. But he also knew that the chaos emeralds were his pocket ace. Without them, he couldn't have stopped Eggman's flight across the upper atmosphere of Mobius. Could he risk facing the bosses ahead without these powerful artifacts?

Sonic changed his gaze to look back at Tails. The fox's eyes were screaming a constant stream of No's at him. His best friend, sidekick and surrogate brother had never lead him wrong. Tails had wisdom beyond any other nine year old he knew. Could he do this? He reached for his back. The crystal glowed from a brilliant flame burning in the deepest center of the object. Sonic placed the glowing amber chaos emerald in the large, leathery hand of Ta'uko.

"Dawn shall arrive in a few hours. Allow me to invite you to rest here. My warriors will lead you to the mines in the morning."

The same warrior that brought them to the camp lead them away. Sonic kept looking over his shoulder until he left the tent. The great chief was staring at the glowing emerald, the amber rays of energy reflected from his pupils. The key to a uncontested victory was in that Mobian's hands, Sonic now knew that his chances were now in the mesh of luck. He made sure to avoid Tail's eyes.

Tails walked close beside Sonic. The adolescent vulpine couldn't deny that he felt crushed. How could Sonic have ignored him? It was so foolish for him to trade a chaos emerald. Did Sonic not trust him anymore? Tails thought rapidly about anything he might have done recently to betray his friend's trust. Sure, him dozing off on the Tornado wasn't his greatest moment. But Tails was certain he wouldn't have been able to stop the missile from hitting even if he was awake.

The two heroes arrived finally at a small domed tent residing at the edge of the camp. The warrior opened the flap. Inside, Sonic and Tails found two beds with heavy mammoth skin coverings. Tails rushed to the bed and buried himself underneath the covers. Sonic sat himself on his own bed and looked again at the other bed. Tails appeared to be fast asleep, but something told the hedgehog that the fox only wanted Sonic to believe this. He wanted to say something, to not leave his relationship with his best friend so strained. But he bit his tongue and lied down on his back to stare at the ceiling.

Tails re-awoke the next day. He didn't say much to Sonic. He learned that Ta'uko's grandson was really named Nakeem. He came in with another walrus who was dressed in what Tails reckoned to be women's clothes. She was holding two large sausages on spigots. He and Sonic ate them quickly, though Tails later regretted this when Nakeem informed them it was made from the blood extracted from whales.

They soon set off and Tails kept himself occupied with keeping the contents of his stomach from coming back up. He had no idea how anyone could live on that stuff. But the better part of him was worried. Could Sonic really have thrown their chances of saving Mobius away? He needed a plan for dealing with whatever machine Eggman had waiting for them.

"How far is the entrance." Sonic asked, walking along side with Nakeem. Both of them being adventurous warriors, Tails didn't feel surprised to see them open up to each other.

"Mine shaft not far, we being there soon. Very soon friend Sonic."

Nakeem still struggled with his speech. Sonic was still surprised to find Mobians who didn't speak Basic. It was the language taught to their ancestors in the beginning. Could these folk have been so secluded from the rest of civilization to evolve their own form of speech?

"You're grandfather mentioned stuff about being the founder of your people Nakeem. I've traveled the world many times 'round man and I've never heard of you."

Tails, who was still silently observing the two in front of him as he walked, could tell that the walrus needed a few minutes to process the words. But his face lit up when he translated Sonic's question and started to explain,

"Long ago, before man returned, before Mobotropolis was built from a hole in the ground, my grandfather come here. He is elder, the first Na'anku" Nakeem paused but then resumed, "I believe the word for it is walrus. Grandfather was first walrus born of Ando."

Sonic let out a whistle,

"Wow, he's a very old fella. So how did you guys end up all the way up here?"

Nakeem smiled visibly for the first time. He slung his spear over his shoulder. His voice was calmer as he said,

"That is long and old story Sonic. But our journey will be much time so I tell you like my father told me and like his father, my grandfather told him."

The walrus took another deep breath and began,

"Long ago, in the beginning of days, men, the first made creatures of Ando first came here from their home world. They brought our early brethren here from our birth world. Our ancestors flourished and multiplied. Trees grew, meadows blossomed. Mobius transformed. Then men came again."

Tails, still walking close behind knew of this well. His mother told him the story of pre-historic Mobius often. Yet the fox would soon discover where his mother and Nakeem differed.

"Men formed their new home, their outpost here, a manifestation of their cruel world in our own. But Ando, in her divine grace saw that the time for humanity was coming to a close. That our birth world would not be sullied by their sin. She chose us, the seventy fathers of Mobians who at the time were imprisoned by the human colonists to give rise to her new race. She sent her blessing upon us and cursed the human intruders. They all died."

"Except for one" Sonic added.

"Yes. The one man survived because it was Ando herself taking form to prepare us for the great purpose."

Tails raised his eyebrows. This theory was highly debated in Mobian society. Scholars and theologians both agreed on the origins of Mobians being from the Earth animals brought by humans to this world. But many, along with most non scholarly Mobians, believed their race to be divine in origin. Scientists disagreed, feeling that this theory was based too much on fact less faith. Instead, they blamed it on a pathogen they called "the Andromeda strain". They theorized that this deadly virus caused death among humans, as history told, but that it also triggered hyper evolution amongst the animals. Tails was never too sure of what to believe. But he always felt something coursing through his veins, something supernatural. It gave him the dreams, where he would be visited by a glowing orb with a soft female voice. Tail's felt his ears twitch again. Nakeem continued the story.

"That day when Mobians first met Ando. Grandfather had dream. It be message from Ando. "

Nakeem got glassy eyed, both Sonic and Tails were fixed on his words.

"Ando revealed her true purpose to us and the destiny of Mobius. Ando say she made men first, many thousand years ago. But she say she failed and man became wicked. Ando said we were to replace man and live on to glorify her."

"So your grandfather claims to have talked to Ando. Did he say what she looks like?" Sonic asked. Tails could tell that the hedgehog was feeling doubtful.

"A ball of fire. Terrible yet beautiful. I have never seen it, but it is what my grandfather and our priests have told us. Full of grace and splendor, blessed are they that witness it."

"I've seen her."

Sonic and Nakeem turned to look at the fox who spoke up.

"Lies boy! Why you say such a thing?" Nakeem growled. Sonic was puzzled by his tone. Not understanding why the Na'anku hated his two tailed friend so much.

"I'm not a liar! And why the hell are you people so rude to me. What did I ever do to you?" Tails yelled. He had really lost his patience, feeling hurt and angry by his treatment at the hands of the walruses.

"You and your kind are all alike. Ando would never speak to you after turning your backs on her. This, sonic, brings me to the cantun'kuto...the sundering."

"Hey man. Tails is my best friend Nakeem. he's saved my life many times. I would appreciate it if you took it easy on him and tell me why you hate him." Sonic now cut in, his voice was crossed like Tails.

"If you not interrupt Sonic, I tell you why the fox are forsaken. Back in the awakening. When the humans had all died out, we all shared prison cells together. One by one we all awakened. We knew not who or where we were at that time. But one stood next to grandpa. A fox, much like your friend...Tails I think you said. Well, we all were scared and wanted to know more about the world we were in. It was hard to communicate, but we still had our pre-evolution means of communication. The fox volunteered, noble he was at the time, he volunteered to explore. When he came back, he came with a human. We learned much from the messenger of Ando and were grieved when he left us. That day Ando revisited grandpa like I told. "

"She told grandpa to learn from the mistakes of humanity, to live closer to nature and to respect the world rather than try to control it. Fox thought differently. He had been the first to learn from human and his being first to make contact gained him the respect of most other Mobians with us. Grandpa tried to tell will of Ando, but fox not listen. Fox wanted to use the knowledge given by human to live like humans. This not be the way of good, so we parted ways. The others stayed with fox and formed the civilizations down south. Only Na'anku and Echidnas were enlightened. We still good friends with Echidnas. They did not like cold though, and went south to an island in the air."

Nakeem turned again to face Tails.

"You! You are so blind! How can you claim to have witnessed the goddess. You live amongst machines, just like the humans. That is not the true way. And because of the bad choices of your forefathers, the humans have come back to Mobius. Men like Robotnik are here to punish us. Ando has sent them to show us our mistake in listening to the fox."

Tails face was full of fury and he finally replied,

"I...I don't know why Ando spoke to me. But she told me I am here to protect life. She said nothing about shunning technology. And didn't you say people believe that Stoller, that was his real name Nakeem, was a direct incarnation of Ando? And Stoller taught us. He taught us to build, to grow and to invent. That's such a contradiction."

The walrus bared his teeth and pointed his spear at Tails. But the fox was quicker and the weapon was reduced to splinters as his two tails ripped through the solid wood. Nakeem howled in shock. Tails kept his angry eyes fixed on the warrior walrus. But Sonic intervened,

"I'm not here to dwell on the past. Me and Tails came to destroy Eggman. He is as much our enemy as he is yours. We can't fight like this. I don't care what our ancestors did. We are both Mobians and we both want to see Eggman gone. Is that not enough to let their be peace between us?"

Nakeem nodded and now turned to point off the face of the cliff they were standing near. Sonic looked to see a large camp below. Sonic could already make out the shapes of sentry bots idly guarding the entrance of dark shaft in the snow.

"We believe that you can access the Eggman base from that mine shaft. I leave you know. Good luck Sonic the Hedgehog."

Nakeem gave one more resentful glare at Tails and then left the two heroes on the cliff overlooking the mines.


	11. Chapter 11: The Not So Endless Mine

Chapter 11: The Not So Endless Mine

Soft giggles were coming from the abandoned corridors that they were traveling. Two females, one Mobian, the other Human, were both laughing. Lucky for them, this section of the base was completely deserted. It was here that Lisa Prower and Annie Cobald hid after escaping their prison cell.

Despite this favorable turn of events for the two companions, they hadn't been able to do much else other than hide. Lisa kept sneaking back to the prison block. She could not stop thinking about Amy, her friend that she had been with this entire journey. Did Eggman roboticize her? Lisa hoped not and remembered that Robotnik was hoping to use her somehow against Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic was a name that came up often between her and Annie. They couldn't stop talking and wishing that the hero of Mobius was with them. Because they still couldn't find a way out. Yet they still passed the time telling stories and jokes of their lives back home. It was something that kept their spirits up.

"And so he showed up..." Lisa paused again to giggle "In a laced suit, it was pink!"

They both laughed again. Lisa kept her smile as the memory remained at the front of her thought.

"At least he was a good kisser..."

Annie's jaw dropped slightly in awe, but she quickly looked away. Lisa sensed her immediate change in mood and asked,

"Whats wrong?"

Annie kept her eyes averted, licked her lips and replied,

"I wish I knew what it's like. I...I haven't even been out on a date..."

"Wow, really? Why?" Lisa asked. For human, she felt that was Annie very attractive for a human. Surely there would be someone that would ask her out.

"Father forbids it." Annie said sadly. "He says that as his heir to family, I cannot date. That in time I will later be presented with a husband."

This concept seemed so foreign to Lisa. She was curious how someone can go through life not being loved.

"So, your father will make you marry someone you don't like?"

Annie nodded.

"But...but that's not right! Why would anybody want to do that to someone like you. Your one of the sweetest and kindest people I have ever met."

Annie allowed herself to smile. She then spoke up,

"There are a lot of things I have never seen from the confines of the apartment my father locks me in. I...I never knew that Mobians were so...so real. He was wrong about you. I never knew that my first friend would be a fox."

They both held affectionate eye contact for a moment. Lisa broke it when she noticed they were walking into an unfamiliar corridor. She glanced at a closed door and saw the words 'Armory' stenciled onto it.

She tapped Annie's shoulder and the girl also discovered what her friend was looking at. They both became instantly excited. The door wasn't even locked and would be the turning point for the two girls.

"These are a lot like the ones my bodyguards had." Annie was holding a wicked blaster pistol.

Lisa looked anxiously at the weapon. It was a lot like the sidearm her father had once worn. A surge of guilt went through her tummy as she realized that she had been carrying it with her. But that was until she and Amy had gotten kidnapped. Could Eggman have hidden it in here? The vixen moved boxes around in her quest. She didn't find the small Mobian pistol, but she did find,

"Annie! Look!"

Lisa held the object aloft so that her friend could see it.

"What? Whats that?" The teenage girl asked back. Lisa smirked. Unbeknown to Annie, a small and dangerous flame had been kindled inside the fox. Even under the watchful eyes of her step parents, Lisa was insatiable pyromaniac. She thought this to be a bit ironic, given her past.

"Plastic explosives silly. This is what we really need." Lisa said as she moved more of the boxes aside to reveal a whole shelf full of the deadly munitions. Annie finally showed signs of understanding the implications of this and said,

"So that means..."

"We can blow this place sky high and put an end to Doctor Robotnik." both females said in unison. Lisa raised her hand up, clearly to get a high five. And after several jumps, Annie made it. The fox then asked,

"Think you can find the roboticizing chamber?"

"You worry about to bombs Lisa Prower! I've got this place mapped in my head, just follow me."

The two then took off, trotting through the corridors of Eggman's headquarters with no resistance.

Sonic couldn't deny it anymore. He was addict. Yet unlike many Mobians or Humans, it wasn't a substance that hooked him. Well, maybe it is a substance, but this is something produced naturally inside the little hedgehog. Adrenaline and lots of it, ripped through his veins, fueling his muscles and driving his brain. Strong when he ran and even stronger when he fought, this assault was a great euphoria to the dare devil hedgehog.

He found himself spinning high in the air. This wasn't in evasion because split second later, the blue ball smashed through another robot. Sonic stood now over the smoldering ruins of the once proud machine, catching his breath. A volley of lead shot by a pair of sentry robots caused Sonic to shorten his break. The hedgehog was speeding off again. He made a swerve around the fighting machines. The turrets of these sentry bots were far too slow to hit Sonic. Their bullets instead wrecked havoc on the large mechanical drills and dirt filled carts outside the mine entrance. The blue blur completed his semi-circle and jumped to land on the head of the nearest sentry bot. It's partner fired before completing its targeting sequence, blasting a series of holes through the torso. Sonic did a back flip off of the smolder hulk as it tumbled to the ground. The sentry bot had wised up though and as soon has Sonic had his balance, the cannons were already aimed at the hedgehog. Before the firing signal could travel from the computer to the trigger, sparks flew from the neck of the machine. It tumbled over and Tails stood over it.

"I was wondering when you'd stop loafing and join in?" Sonic said sarcastically as he cracked a grin. But the fox did not return his smile and instead turned his back to Sonic and walked away. His friend's twin tails were low and somewhat stiff, his way of displaying anger and annoyance. The hedgehog caught up quickly to the fox. He couldn't understand why the other was acting this way, so he said,

"Look Tails, I'm sorry if you think I ignored you back there. We were in a tough spot..."

Tails stopped dead in his tracks and swiveled to meet Sonic's eye. The hedgehog noticed the glimmer of anger in his friends eyes. They both allowed an uncomfortable silence last until Tails finally said,

"I just don't understand you sometimes Sonic. You love to take risks and just can't get enough thrills, but how could you just give up our only real hope of beating Eggman?"

"And what was I supposed to do Tails?! Just run out of there and into the frozen tundra? With out their help, we wouldn't have found this place."

Tails just shook his head as he scowled. Sonic glared at him for a moment longer before he growled,

"We've beaten him before without the chaos emeralds. Come on buddy, lets put this aside for now. Your my best friend, and Robotnik's armies are dangerous enough, I can't afford to not have you at my side."

The fox's face softened a bit and his wistful blue eyes projected silent agreement to Sonic. Both heroes now turned to the mine shaft gaping in the ground.

Sonic has been through many mines before. From the mystic caves of Westside Island to the molten reefs of fire beneath Angel Island. For the most part, they were all the same to the blue hedgehog. Pits of unfathomable darkness, enormous unloving creatures of stone and, of coarse, Eggman's robots. The entrance chamber greeted both heroes as they entered. It was featureless save for the flickering torches lining the walls and a few empty mine carts sitting motionless on a track.

"Those tracks must lead somewhere" Tails commented as he looked towards the dark tunnel that they lead to.

"Only one way to find out, see you there if you can keep up little buddy..." Sonic replied with a wink. The hedgehog then took off down the tunnel, leaving a think cloud of dust hanging in the dimly lit air.

Tails stood there for a few moments, his face again going bitter.

"Why does he always act like that? One of these days it's really going to hurt us." His voice was a soft whisper that nobody was around to hear.

But the fox's heart was consumed with a new feeling of determination. He wouldn't let Sonic beat him without fight, not now, not ever. He twisted his twin orange tails and leaning forward, propelled himself at a rapid speed down the same path his friend.

"We will see who wins this race..."

Sonic the Hedgehog was right. He was traveling down what he reckoned to be the very heart of the mines of Whitocropolis. The tunnel grew wider as other tunnels containing train tracks branched out from the one he traversed. The shinny gray stone that made up the walls of the underground corridor widened as he ran deeper into the complex. Sonic felt that it was wide enough for Tails to even fly the Tornado through the path. He glanced back and noted that the fox was still nowhere to be seen. Could Tails really be that peeved at him?

"Not really..." Thought Sonic. His gut told him that his little brother would be back there working to catch up. What was troubling Sonic though was the lack of security down here. Eggman's robots put up a fight on the surface, as if the dead mastermind was directly controlling them.

CRASH!

Sonic shut his eyes to prevent shards of sharpened stone from slicing his eyeballs. The cause of this disruption was a robot unlike any the hedgehog had encountered before. It wasn't some bipedal hunk of metal like Eggman usually deployed. Instead, it resembled the anatomy of a large black worm.

Two rings of sharpened metal teeth spun around the front of the head. Grinders obviously meant to help the machine eat through solid earth in its master's quest for minerals. The rest of its bloated torso was covered in ribbed wheels that pushed the machine along on its tunnel burrowing journey. But the feature that really caught Sonic's eyes was the opening in the center of the grinding teeth at the front. It glowed fiery orange; an opening to the inferno within the machine. This it seems, was were the ore that it found was deposited and smelted. Perhaps intruders were meant to go into this smelter as well, such as the blue hedgehog that stood before it.

Sonic kicked off again, counting on his speed to be something that this bulky machine couldn't match. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins again and his speedy dash from the burrowing giant would have worked, but the tunnel he was following entered a massive subterranean chamber. Like several sport arenas put together, Sonic gasped in the wide open space, hidden within such a claustrophobic place. Wooden scaffolding lined the walls

This chamber wasn't empty. Hundreds of droids were hard at work with drills and picks, hammering at the wall and pouring ore down to the floor where other machines collected it. These fragments of earth, soon to be converted into instruments of war, were being loaded onto a train which was creeping along the tracks that ran through the cavern. Sonic could see that the tracks were leading it to yet another tunnel at the other end of the room.

By now, several of worker robots had noticed their blue visitor and greeted him with hail of small stones. The hero openly laughed at this as he zoomed around the room, the thrown rocks harmlessly slamming into the caverns walls and occasionally, another worker. Sonic was enjoying himself, darting away from the projectiles, but then his peripheral vision caught sight of the train about to enter the dark tunnel. The hedgehog screeched to stop.

"It was fun playing dodge ball with you guys, but I've gotta run!" He waved at the crowd and took off at full speed. As he drew closer to the engine, he rolled into a ball spinning like a living, blue saw. It worked, Sonic drilled through solid steel, cutting through it and stopping just inside the train tunnel. The sparks of his attack hit the fuel tank and the machine erupted in flames. Carts filled with raw ore derailed, piling on top of each other, against the smoldering metal ruins of the locomotive. When the crash had finally settled, Sonic admired the wreck proudly. The entrance to his tunnel was completely blocked. No robots would be following him to Eggman's base.

Yet on the other side, another creature not of Eggman design entered the room. The orange fox was spinning his tails as fast as possible. The reason was not apparent until a series of loud crashes announced their arrival. Three Eggman burrowing robots had joined him in the cavern. One came from the tunnel he had just escaped from, and the other two drilled their way into the room, as if summoned by the now cheering worker bots.

Tail's gritted his teeth. He knew he was in a lot of trouble. The hails of stones that the worker robots had previously greeted Sonic were now turned to him. Tails ducked the first volley and used his feet to run away from the teeth of the three tunneling robots. The glow of their internal smelters glowed menacingly at the fox, eager to feed themselves with his flesh.

One thing that the young hero realized is that the tunnelers had a very difficult time turning themselves. And this is how Tails exploited this. He continued to run on foot beside one of the burrowing bots. It tried and tried to turn to consume Tails with its teeth, but the fox was far quicker, able to turn on a dime. He remained at the side of the machine, like a thorn upon the side of an elephant.

The other two tunneling robots hatched an idea that they believed what put an end to their crafty little nemesis. The machine that Tail's was following suddenly halted, to the shock of its enemy. Tails then spotted them, well, one of them anyways. The tunneler was moving very fast, only moments from pinning the Mobian fox to the side of its ally. But lucky for Tails, that never happened.

He was amused with himself. "I've been hanging around Sonic too much" he said as the smug blossomed within him. These silly metal machines had underestimated him. His extra tail was not there for show. Right as teeth of the burrowing machine were about to eat him, he spun his Tails like a rotor and lifted into the air.

A horrific shriek of metal hitting metal deafened Tails as it happened. From his airborne viewpoint he could see the catastrophe. It turned out that the third machine was also charging at him from the other side. They both tore through the fuselage of the middle robot in less then second, and then, into each other. A geyser of molten metal spouted into the air, nearly hitting the the flying fox. The other, smaller robots were now throwing stones at him again, but their projectiles came less and less often as the puddle of molten metal oozed out from the wreck of the three tunneling bots, setting them ablaze before they toppled over.

Tails now noticed the wrecked train at the other end of the cavern and pushed himself through the air to make it there. He was hoping to escape this way. But as he landed on the rubble, he realized that the tunnel had completely collapsed. Sonic had beat him to it. Did he really intend to cut him off? Tails felt trapped now. He had nowhere to go now, Sonic won his little race. The fox felt a wave of shock go through his head followed by sharp pain. He felt the wounded area with his hand and then spotted the stains of blood on his glove when he pulled it back. Some of the droids had escaped the disaster in the middle of the cavern and were still committed to killing him. As he ducked behind some of the larger boulders around the wreckage, his keen ears picked up a peculiar sound.

He waited for the sounds of rocks pelts his location to stop before he dared to take a peak. When he did, Tails visually spotted what his ears had told him about. Water! On another end of the cavern that he had previously disregarded was a small pond fed by short water fall. This was his chance. The young Mobian twisted his namesakes together again, silently promising them plenty of rest once he made it through this crisis.

Tails was in the air again, and like a bomber, dodging anti air craft fire, he swerved and dove as more robots tried to bring him down. He squinted and now was close enough to tell that opening in the cavern wall was indeed large enough for him squeeze through. Whether or not he would suffocate from lack of air was something far from his frightened mind.

"Oh what a fool I am" cried a soft female voice. The speaker looked to her side and a large, decloaked stealth bot looked back at her. Amy sighed. Could anyone understand?

For most of her life, she had known only love. Could this mysterious and powerful force drive her to to her own demise? She had certainly felt that way before and that feeling was visiting her yet again. It had all started four years ago. She seen him, from a distance, Sonic the Hedgehog marching through crowds of cheering spectators in the streets of Novus Spes. From that day onwards, she had dedicated every scheming thought and aspiring dream to becoming Sonic's girl forever. Charms, magical potions, bribes or even threats of violence, no means were out of the question for Amy Rose to get her prize.

This had reached its pinnacle when Sonic's nemesis, Doctor Robotnik lured her to the mysterious Little Planet hovering over Never Lake with a forged note from her heart lust. There, she was kidnapped and used as a decoy to prevent Sonic from obtaining the chaos emeralds. It was one of her greatest moments. Her hero, idol and future husband saved her from danger. He was shy at first, but she knew he would eventually stop being the stereotypical man who hated commitment and accept her proposal of marriage.

The pink hedgehog continued to daydream of the wedding ceremony until she passed through a set of heavy metal doors. Amy had arrived in the nerve center of the Whitocropolis Base and in front of large set of screens, sat the man responsible for it all.

"Ah, I am so glad you have come to join me!"

Doctor Robotnik greeted Amy as he stood up from his over sized throne chair. The hedgehog noted that he was in a particularly good mood, and knowing Eggman, that was never a good thing.

"What do you want Eggman? I don't feel like listening to you gloat!" Amy answered defiantly.

The large man laughed and held his hands out as if to calm her down.

"Now now my hot headed rodent. I will concede that I am in need of a bit of company at this glorious moment. And EDDIE is a bit of a party pooper."

Amy noticed the small black robot standing motionless next to Eggman. It acted as if it took no notice to its master's remark. Amy wondered if perhaps it did have feelings that the mad scientist had just touched.

"And what is there to celebrate? You kidnapped me again and your going to destroy the world. Sounds like the last thing anyone would want to celebrate."

"On the contrary, take a look."

Eggman pointed to the large wall screens that the pink hedgehog finally dared to look at. There were images of it. The war had begun.

One was an image of warplanes, human made, bombing a Mobian airfield. The other, a column of black uniformed Mobians and small tanks rolling along the road. The images then switched to a feed which Amy instantly recognized as the Mobotropolis News Channel. Robotnik did her the courtesy and tapped a button on his chair that enabled the sound. A well groomed female Mobian lion read the report,

"Negotiations have failed again. Grand Imperator Cobald, joint leader of the united Terran families has refused to meet envoys of Mobotropolis. Meanwhile, the war in the skies has shown no signs of ending. The defense ministry has reported a total of thirty enemy planes shot down. We also regret to report that the northern airbase has been destroyed by a surprise Terran attack which we have confirmed to have sparked the start of hostilities.

Ground forces of the MSF have already begun to organize the defense of our great city. General Brashen has ordered an evacuation of the city as he expects a Terran land assault to commence soon. This is Lana Hugh with the MTT"

Amy was speechless for a moment. She just watched Robotnik massage his red mustache as he continued to smirk at the pink hedgehog. He did finally say,

"Do sit down my dear, you seem to be a bit touched by the ascension of the Eggman Empire."

At once, a chair was summoned out of nowhere and Amy found herself sitting in it. Several metal bars strapped her in place, preventing any attempt to escape.

It was hopeless. Amy saw nothing but dis-pare. Her world was being torn apart, and she had no escape. Just the mercy of a madman. Soft tears swelled in her green eyes, one, rolled down her pale cheek.

"Oh Amy, I thought you would have a bit more courage then that my dear. You certainly wouldn't want to spoil your makeup before your boyfriend arrives..."

Amy looked back up to notice that Robotnik had changed the view on the screens. Instead they showed him. Sonic the hedgehog was running, fast through dark tunnels. Her hero's eyes were focused, not only from focus on avoid underground obstacles, but determined. Did he know that she was being held by Eggman? Was he coming to rescue her again like a knight riding to his princess? Amy made herself a bit more comfortable in the seat and finally put her game face on for man sitting near her.

"Where is he Eggman?"

"Very close my dear, very close. He sure has made a mess down there in the mines. But I know that his girlfriend will bring some reason to his unstable mind. For my demands are simple."

"Oh, and what are those you maniac?"

"All in good time my impatient little rodent."

Eggman turned away from her to watch Sonic continue his progress through the mines. Amy too turned to watch him. Maybe hope had not yet vanished from this dark hole in Mobius

It was yet another cavern, tall, wide and dark. Sonic had arrived in it. But this one was slightly different than the previous one that he had just escaped. In the center was a large lake. He cautiously moved closer to the edge of it to notice the still surface, it was too dark for him to see anything beneath the surface. At the other end, was a magnificent white marble stair case that ascended up. A polished gold statue of none other then Doctor Ivo Robotnik stood in pompous glory to greet any who wished to climb the steps.

"Got this far into Egghead's little palace with almost no fight. This hero job thing is starting to loose its excitement..."

Sonic commented loudly. He then scanned the room again before adding,

"And Tails is loosing his edge. He's always been able to at least keep up...I've never seen him loose a race this bad before."

A loud and unmistakably familiar series of coughs along with a splash of water startled the hedgehog and he turned to see the source of the noise climbing out of the subterranean lake water. The sight of Tails challenged every bit of self control Sonic had to not laugh. His orange fur was plastered to the side of his head and the rest of his body. He looked even more runty without it all puffed out and his twin tails looked like two out of control weeds growing in an untended Mobian garden. Yet Sonic managed to keep his amusement contained to just a smile. Tails finished coughing and retorted his friend's previous comment,

"That because I didn't loose. I've been waiting for you in here. I thought that you were an Eggman robot when you first came in and hid."

Sonic simply crossed his arms and retained his smug smile. Tails now was looking closely at the Eggman statue, seeking some guidance from his mentor he asked,

"So whats the plan Sonic?"

"Simple little bro. We go up there, find the guy who's in charge and get the girl back."

Tails wanted a bit more detail than that, but he nodded and the two heroes turned to ascend the stairway. Their departure was instantly halted when a large crash of crumbling rock knocked them both to the ground.

There, at the entrance to the tunnel Sonic had been traveling down, stood a new and deadly menace. It was a robot, built to resemble a human, but stood nearly twenty feet tall. It's head had a helmet resembling that of a mine worker, sporting a bright lamp at the top of the visor. Glowing green eyes gazed upon its two targets with anticipation. These were shielded by a crystalline glass that was supported by the mech's helmet. It's torso was covered in thick carbon steel plate, painted and polished red and yellow. A large Eggman Empire icon was stamped on its chest. No less then four arms were attached to this monster, two of them were wielding a hammer and a pickax. Both of these had to be the size of street lights. The ground it stood on sank, allowing its massive steel boots to to create large foot prints.

"Welcome to Whitocropolis Sonic the Hedgehog! I am unit 436, the Eggmine Boss. Your trespass ends here, surrender now or be destroyed."

Sonic chuckled and answered,

"Haven't you metal heads learned anything? This hedgehog only gives up when the heart inside this chest stops beating."

"Same with this fox!"

The time for words was over. Both heroes charged at full speed towards the mine boss. The machine had expected and hoped for this and with seemingly little effort, swiped his pick axe horizontally across the ground in front of him. This attack missed Tails by mere inches, but Sonic wasn't so lucky. The force of the attack sent him flying across the cavern. He landed head first in the subterranean lack. A second strike with the heavy sledge hammer went straight for Tails. The head of the tool went several feet into the floor, instead of the agile fox. He was now flying in the air, pushing his way towards where he saw Sonic splash into the lake. The hedgehog still had not floated to the surface of the water, something which concerned Tails. But he also noticed the robot responsible for Sonic's little swim wasn't making any more moves. It just stood at the edge of the lake waiting patiently. Tails taunted with a particularly selected finger on his gloved hand,

"What wrong? Have enough? Come and get me!"

The mechanical voice responded sardonically,

"Cowards who flee after the opening salvo have little room to judge my valor. Come and have a real fight on the ground, instead of skulking in the air little hero."

Tails looked back down to see some bubbles popping at the surface of the water. He knew that Sonic could only stay down there so long, but hated the idea of turning his back to the large machine, not entirely convinced that the machine would stay away from the water. But he had to do something. So Tail's straightened his body, a lot like how he saw competitive swimmers before they jumped off the high board. He stopped his spinning tails and fell downwards, cutting into the lake head first.

As he was fully submersed, Tails opened his eyes. The water was still dark and murky, and Tail's knew finding anything, even hedgehogs would be a challenge. But instincts told the adolescent fox to dive deeper until his chin hit the rocky bottom of the lake. A gargling sound that he had heard initially was now very loud. Tails swerving himself around and saw him. Sonic, a proud and formidable warrior, was struggling to stay alive. Tails grabbed his best friend by the arms and used all his remaining energy to swim them both up to the top.

They wasted no time on the surface. Tail's hoisted Sonic into the air with him. The hedgehog appeared to be recovering quickly from his underwater odyssey. The airborne fox spoke quietly to the hedgehog he was carrying,

"I think he's scared of the water Sonic. We need to find a way to bring him into the lake."

"I think he's determined to not let that happen little bro." Sonic replied pointing at the still waiting Eggmine Boss.

Tails glanced down to see that his friend's face was stretched. A sign of the deep thought process going on within. His eyes soon sparked and he whispered to the fox,

"Tail's! There was a metal bucket down there. I remember feeling it when I was down below. I'll keep him busy while you grab it. I think I can knock that silly looking helmet off of him so that you can douse that small metal brain of his with water."

The simplicity of it masked its brilliance and Tails was glad that Sonic was with him. He set the blue hedgehog down at the edge of the lake opposite to the mech.

"Hey bot brain! Wanna fight? Lets see if you can catch me first!"

Sonic took of again, the thunderous boom echoed through the cavern as he got closer to mach 1. The machine worked furiously, swinging its weapons futilely at empty air. Each time, Sonic managed to duck, evade or jump through his carefully levied attacks. Tails observed this for a few more seconds and when he felt confident that Sonic could keep this up he dove down beneath the lake water again. He instantly found it, a bucket that could hold several gallons of water was sitting at the bottom. Tails rose back to the surface and into the air, the orange furred bomber waiting to drop its payload on a helpless target.

Sonic was focused. He was the bee, darting across the ground at phenomenal speeds and the mine boss was the swatter. He felt sorry for the robot, he really did. It had to be frustrating to be such a large machine, capable of throwing boulders like they were pebbles or ripping a car in half to be unable to squash a small, four foot tall hedgehog. One thing that Sonic knew he had other then speed was peripheral vision, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the time was just right. Tails was hovering directly above and behind the oblivious robot. Sonic did his part, breaking from his evasive run, he aimed a homing attack directly at the face of the mech.

Eggmine Boss saw it, but he reacted too slowly, his free hand swiped at empty air and Sonic's spinning body smashed through the glass visor and knocked the helmet clear off its head. Tail's saw the tangle of wires with intermingled computers that were once protected by the helmet waiting for him. He flew closer and then unleashed his wet attack. A frightening arch of electricity ripped through the air and the legs of the machine instantly froze. Its voice, still devoid of emotion emitted,

"Systems malfunctioning. Circuit damage severe. Unable to route to backup!"

Tails, still a determined little fox, had refilled the bucket with another load of water. This was the end. As the two tailed hero dumped his bucket onto the still exposed head, the machine gave one final quiver before it froze up completely.

Sonic and Tails had laid to waste to yet another creation of Robotnik. The two best friends gave each other a high five. But their villain was not going to hide anymore, his voice rang out from load speakers mounted on the walls near the marble stairs,

"Well, you both never stop surprising me. Sonic and Tails, I would like to invite you both to join me in my command chamber. Don't be shy, come on up."

The two heroes nodded at each other and moved to accept Eggman's invitation.

Far from the knowledge of the deadly duo inside the caves, two other partners in crime were plotting their way through the complex. Lisa was tired. Her upbringing on the farm had exposed her to periods of hunger before, but this one was a little different. The fox held her hands up and noted how they continued to shake. She wasn't scared, just paranoid, ready to pop at a moment's notice.

Despite their many unanticipated detours, Lisa was too polite to tell Annie she had gotten them lost, though they finally found the room they were looking for. The roboticizer looked far more menacing up close then it did looking down from the observation gallery they were in when first observing this monstrosity. They were presently surprised to find the room empty. Could Robotnik have been foolish enough to leave the machine he intended to transform the world without even a sentry or two?

"His mistake is our advantage" Lisa thought to herself haughtily.


	12. Chapter 12: Two Tails Unite

Chapter 12: Two Tails Unite

It was the march of glory, if you could call it that. Sonic and Tails were marching through the inner section of the base. The sentry robots were indeed there, they lined the walls at regular intervals. Tails glanced around at them, their running lights flashed menacingly, yet their cannons remained at parade rest. The master wanted him and Sonic to join him without further delay. After passing through this dark corridor and through another, they passed under the large archway which was normally protected by a huge metal door. One that even Sonic wouldn't be able to spin through. The two heroes finally arrived in the command room.

The large screens on the wall were flashing footage both broadcasted from the media and from satellites of the Mobian/human war brooding outside. The room was otherwise dark and had a large chair planted in the center.

"Well, it certainly hasn't been so long since we last met. How remarkable it is that things never change..."

Tail's knew that voice and he was not surprised to see the man turned to face them. He was also annoyed to see that Sonic wasn't surprised either. After all his insistence that Eggman was dead, it appears that he indeed got the final word this time. Sonic actually wasn't shocked, he showed signs of content. He crossed his arms and replied,

"I just can't get enough of you Eggman. Its as if we were destined to be eternal soul mates."

Eggman's rancid laughter echoed through the chamber. The mad scientist got up from his throne and rubbed his hands together.

"So it seems. And you haven't lost the fox boy. That's good."

Tails didn't reply to this rude greeting. He let Sonic continue to do the talking.

"Creating a massive space station to destroy the world, unleashing mindless robot armies to terrorize Mobians and now your kidnapping daughters to incite a war. What will you stoop to next Eggman?"

"Oh Sonic, I don't plan to stoop any lower than this because I intend to succeed this time. There is no way that you to stop me now!"

Sonic cracked a cocky smile and Tails found himself grinning as well. Either Eggman was out of his mind or he had something up his sleeve. Which it was, the two heroes would quickly find out. Sonic now positioned his body to attack, Tails followed his lead.

"I find that hard to believe Egghead. We found you out. Give us back the girl, then maybe we will go a little easy on you this time."

Robotnik gave no appearance of feeling threatened. He just smiled and massaged his mustache. His pompous voice finally said back,

"I wouldn't be making such bold threats Sonic when you do not have a clear idea of what cards I hold."

The large man snapped his fingers. Sonic jumped when he saw them. Four robots appeared out of the shadows, stealth bots that he had no chance of seeing before their master chose to reveal them. He and Tails were surrounded.

Robotnik snapped his fingers again. This time, another, smaller chair emerged from the polished steel floor. Within it sat a pink hedgehog, bound at the feet and hands.

"Amy!" Sonic yelled.

"Sonic!"

"Ah ah ah!" Robotnik stopped Sonic as he saw the hedgehog move towards his captive. He gave a third snap. Expecting another prisoner or deadly weapon to present itself, the two heroes glanced around the room. But nothing came. Eggman frowned and snapped his fingers again. Still nothing. He now yelled out,

"EDDIE! Bring her in already damn it!"

The center screen in the command room changed from its display of tactical data. A the head of a shiny black robot was now visible. It's metallic voice answered,

"My sincere apologies master, but the prisoner has escaped. Sentry bots are now sweeping the installation for her."

Robotnik's face went red and it looked as if he was going to explode. But surprisingly, he contained his rage and traded it for a smooth face of smugness.

"It's funny how things turn out. Circumstances have presented me with many bargaining chips, yet not all the ones that I want. It's no matter. How about we make a deal Sonic, though I dare say this may be more in the hands of little Tails."

Eggman was pacing now. He had hands tucked behind his plump back, his eyes were regularly glancing at the two tailed fox standing anxiously across the room. The man allowed himself two rounds of this before he stopped to massage his mustache, he once again stared at Tails as he explained in the most delighted tone,

"I have had the pleasure recently of meeting a certain member of your family fox boy."

Tails instantly scowled, those words touched deep nerves,

"They are all dead Eggman, because....because of you! Don't tell me you went to dig up their graves..."

"Oh hush now!" Robotnik cut him off. "I don't care to hear your rants. Your parents died because they were fools. But its not them I a speak of. Can you guess who else I could have met?"

Tails thought rapidly of any family members of his that could alive. But unfortunately for the fox, his family was never large. He had no cousins and his grandparents had died before he was born. Devoid of any educated guesses, the fox shook his head no.

"I'm disappointed in you Tails. You should forget about your dear sister. After all, she did come looking for you!"

Eggman blurted out while shaking a finger at the pup. Tail's eyes were now wielding small tears, but he kept them at bay while he shouted,

"You're a liar Eggman! You murdered her too!"

The fat man laughed at this. He then resumed his pacing as he explained,

"I am many things fox boy. Genius, Master of Mobius and philanthropist . But I am no murderer. She was here not even a week ago. If she had stayed put in her comfortable living quarters that I had provided her, perhaps you two would be celebrating a grand reunion."

Sonic was surprised at himself for staying quiet for so long. He had come here to destroy Eggman, but now he was in an uncanny hostage situation. Could Eggman just be bluffing? He had never heard Tails speak of a sister before.

Robotnik judged that his words had sunk in enough, he was ready to take the prize.

"Back to my reputation as a man of generosity. I will make you both a deal. I will give both Amy Rose and your living sister, Lisa Prower. She must still be here in the facility. My guards have not discovered any escape from the installation."

He allowed a few moments to pass then he resumed,

"In return, I want the secret of chaos control. You must give me a power ring for my research."

Emerald met sky blue as both Sonic and Tails looked at each other, wondering what to do. Tails reached back into his backpack and withdrew a golden power ring. As he pulled it out, it flashed hazy gold several times, almost as if it knew it was about to be unleashed. Behind his blue spectacles, Robotnik's eyes glittered with lust. Finally, he would have a way to channel chaos energy to new forms of destruction.

"Tails, he must be bluffing. We can't give him that. We can take him out, both of us together."

Sonic whispered. But his voice was not quiet enough to escape the ears of Eggman. He was already a step ahead of them. The man snapped his fingers, the stealth bots that had previously appeared locked their cannon's on Sonic. The hedgehog had certainly been in worst situations, but all there robots had to do is get lucky. With Amy in here, he did not want to take such a risk. Robotnik also sensed his foe's hesitation, but he appealed to Tails rather then Sonic,

"I am surprised I didn't recognize her sooner Tails. She too is very hotheaded, very eager to fight against immeasurable odds. A family trait no doubt. And very overprotective of you, even though she hardly knows you."

Eggman finished with a chuckle. Amy was also weighing the situation, she was desperate to get out and remembered the vixen that had accompanied her here,

"Its true Tails! Lisa is alive. She saved me back in Novus Spes, before Eggman kidnapped us both. Please! She is desperate to find you! We can beat Eggman some other way!"

The mad scientist snapped his fingers again. This time a small table floated from the ceiling to midair. Just the perfect height for Tails to place his power ring on.

"Put it there fox boy, fulfill your side of the bargain and then I shall deliver mine!"

Tails ground his teeth together, his brain was racing with thoughts and emotions. Could he really have found his sister? Eggman lies, but Amy never did. Something inside his heart pushed him to give up the ring. Did his mind somehow detect his sibling's presence? Or was he foolishly superstitious? This ring he knew would enable Eggman to raise new and terrible weapons, things that would make the Death Egg seem like just a trivial toy for Mobian toddlers.

"Son of a hero...trade metal for life..."

The familiar voice softly whispered in his ears. The fox looked around, and only saw Sonic close to him. But the voice wasn't from Sonic. But the words were very much like his dream earlier, he began to feel as though this had already happened, like the puzzle had been solved. All he had to do was set it off.

Sonic and Tails moved in unison towards the hovering table, upon it was laid the golden power ring. Robotnik rubbed his hands together with glee. His rotten teeth were bared as he smiled from ear to ear while emitting a triumphant laugh. He regained control soon and responded to Sonic who was waiting for his end of the deal to be fulfilled,

"Ah, now it's my turn I suppose."

Eggman walked to the chair of Amy Rose and touched a button on the side. Both heroes were expecting it to cause the chains of her prison to be unlocked. What they didn't expect, however, was for the solid floor they were standing on to breakaway. Sonic never got to run, nor was Tails able to fly, they both plummeted to the dark depths below.

It was soft yet supple like a ball of well watered clay that she would often dig through back home. It's appearance aside, this white, clay like substance had the ability to blow hay barns to splinters. Lisa was excited, she had never played with plastic explosives. Most of what she experimented with were just small sticks of dynamite or jars of carefully mixed liquids. This was something new, and that made it exciting.

The metal case was warm and Lisa could only guess that it was full of computers vital for the machine to function. The vixen looked once again to the middle of the room. Two glass tubes were setup there, the menacing reminder of what it was meant to do. They were empty now, waiting for their next victim. This, Lisa was determined to prevent. A blond human girl was now stepping towards her.

"I've got the other side planted Lisa." She greeted warmly. Her gray eyes drooped slightly with exhaustion. They both had been wondering the halls Eggman's base for far too long. Paranoia and discomfort had prevented both the fox and the human girl from getting anymore than a few hours of sleep.

There was a loud clank from the towering ceiling above them. No fatigue was enough to hamper the ears of a fox. Lisa glanced up anxiously and then quickly whispered,

"I think we have enough bombs planted here to disable this contraption. Lets go and try and find a real way to get out of here."

Annie completely agreed. They were on the other side of the room where in the wall, was the vent which they used to travel unnoticed into this well protected room. Annie and Lisa were so close to escaping, close to getting away and blowing up Eggman's deadly roboticizer. But a repeat of clicks and bangs above prompted them to flee for immediate cover. They found this in a pile of empty plastic barrels that were stacked near what they determined to be the actual door.

Just as the two saboteurs were out of sight, the once empty tubes of the roboticizer were filled with new subjects. Sonic and Tails had arrived in just the place that Robotnik had wanted them to. The malevolent scientist and aspiring ruler of Mobius arrived in the room. It was his moment of triumph and he did nothing to hide it.

Lisa dared a peak over the top of the barrels to see Sonic and Tails recovering from their fall. They both quickly realized that bruises were the least of their problems. Sonic attempted to super spin against the glass. Robotnik laughed and said,

"Oh ho ho! You didn't really think I would spend all my time to build such a great machine just to have you spin your way out of it. Oh no Sonic. I have been preparing for this for a long long time."

The fat man was now leaning on the glass, as if he were taunting the hedgehog to try his futile attack again. Lisa bit her lip. Her little brother was sitting inside his own tube, she had never seen him look so scared, even before they were separated. She had to do something and fast. Her hand quickly grabbed the detonator for the explosives that both her and Annie just planted.

"No!" Annie whispered as she reached for the controller.

"That's my little brother in there. If we don't blow them now, Eggman will roboticize him!" Amy growled back as she tried to pull the gadget away from the human.

"You said those plastic explosive things are really powerful, if you do that while we are here, we will all die!"

Lisa looked her friend in the eye, as if contemplating the option of doing nothing. But the fox's face quickly turned to rage and whispered in a dangerously loud tone,

"I'd rather die than loose Miles! Now get off me!"

But Annie didn't listen, instead, the two girls wrestled for control of the detonator.

Only a few feet away, and surprisingly deaf to the near by quarrel, Eggman was bringing the roboticizer systems on line. Tails, inside his tube, felt the last vestiges of hope fading from his body.

"Tails!"

"Sonic!"

Tails stood up and faced Sonic in the adjacent tube. Sonic's face was unrecognizable to the fox who felt he knew Sonic better then anyone else on Mobius. Was it the resignation of defeat in his face? The fact that he was powerless to do anything to stop Eggman? Or maybe the small tear in his eye. Tails knew he was seeing a previously concealed part of his best friend and brother,

"Don't worry little buddy. We did our best. No matter what Eggman does, I will always be around for you."

Tails felt warm tears of his own swelling in his eyes and he nodded to Sonic's words.

"Your my best friend Sonic. I guess I'll see you on the other side."

The two heroes said no more. Eggman was also done preparing his machine and grinned at them.

"How touching. If I had a heart, I'm sure it would be warm with such a powerful farewell. Time to let the roboticizer do it's work."

Robotnik's hand pulled the large lever down. The walls and floor began to vibrate as dozens of machines labored. Tail's looked up to see a green haze beaming down on both him and Sonic. The process had begun.

In the corner behind the barrels, Lisa and Annie continued to to fight. The teenage human girl had far more strength in her thing arms then Lisa would have anticipated. The fox was now pinned to the ground, gasping for breath while the detonator lied on the floor only inches from her hand.

Lisa perked her ears up, a loud buzz was rumbling through the room. Eggman had activated the roboticizer, she had to act. With all her strength, she lifted her knee with a snap that landed square in Annie's gut. Her friend fell over coughing. And with utter panic running through her terrified veins, Lisa slammed her fist down on the red button of the detonator, as if it was the last thing she would ever do.

Tails couldn't see, was he really dead? It was dark all around and loud, high pitch squeal was in his ears, as if he his head were inside a large bell that was being beat constantly. He felt himself climb to his feet, but the ground he stood on was cracking and shifting, like he was standing on a bed of broken glass. The fox was coughing too, coughing like he had was clearing his throat of a pond full of mud. After what seemed like forever to Tails, the smoke slowly cleared.

He could see Sonic next to him, clutching his throat and struggling to breath like him. Nearby was also Dr. Robotnik who was looking around anxiously. He punched a few buttons on his heavily damaged console. Large overhead fans clicked on and began to remove the smoke from the room.

Lisa was also back on her feet and proudly surveying the damage. The banks of computers that surrounded the room were reduced to smoking piles of metal and silicon. Both tubes were also destroyed and her little brother, Miles was alive. She walked to the center of the room and stopped only when she heard a loud and angry voice cry out at her,

"YOU!"

The fox turned to face him. The soot on Eggman's face did not conceal his wrath. His prized machine was destroyed. All thanks to the vixen that now stood before her.

"Yes me! I warned you that I would never let you hurt Miles! It's over Eggman! You are finished. Your plan has failed and my family's revenge has finally come to bear."

Dr. Robotnik's face quivered several times, as if he attempted to say half a dozen retorts. But no sound came from his fat lips. Instead he stared daggers at the fox who starred them back at him. A new emotion crept through the man's blood veins, fear. And his flight was too fast for Lisa to prevent. With a speed that was unexpected from a man of his proportions, Robotnik escaped through the roboticizing room's large doorway. The solid steel doors slammed shut behind him. Eggman had escaped them yet again. Yet this troubling fact did not stay on the vixen's mind for long because a voice behind her called her.

"Lisa!"

The two siblings darted for each other and after five years of separation, they embraced each other for the first time. They both sobbed, and there was a lot they both wanted to say. Lisa was the first to say it,

"I never gave up on you Miles. I knew you were out there somewhere. I'm sorry I didn't come looking for you sooner."

Tails wiped his eyes as he pulled back and looked his sister in the eyes.

"Me too Lisa. Its all my fault. Mom and dad told us to never to leave the house at night. If I had..."

"If you didn't leave, you would have died in the fire. You shouldn't blame yourself Miles. You're safe now and we are back together."

Tails managed a smile and gave his sister another quick hug before he glance over his shoulder. Sonic was standing nearby, observing the reunion.

"Hiya Sonic!" Lisa greeted. She couldn't help but be excited to finally meet the hero that all other Mobians talked about.

"So you're the famous Lisa Prower." Sonic replied. A peach furred hand met the hedgehog's glove palm as the shook hands. The female fox felt a rush of excitement with this interaction. A nearby groan caused them both to look at the up-heaved pile of barrels that Lisa had been hiding behind.

"Annie!" Lisa cried as she ran over to help the girl up. She had a bloody nose and a few scratches, but was otherwise unharmed. Annie slapped Lisa's shoulder half heartedly.

"I'm so sorry, but I had to." The fox responded. Annie shrugged it off. They were both alive and that's all that really mattered.

Sonic was the first to return the group to the reality of what was happening,

"Hey guys, it's great that we are all together. But we can't celebrate now, the world outside is about to erupt. We have to stop the war and destroy Eggman's army."

Tails rushed to the door that Eggman had fled through. It was still tightly shut. He fumbled with the keypad at the side of the doorway and frowned,

"Eggman's got this place in full lock down. My guess is that he is long gone. he's probably going to link up with his armies."

"Stand aside!" Sonic ordered. The hedgehog revved up into a ball of spinning blue spikes. He slammed into the door with frightening power. But despite the sparks and shards of metal that flew from the impact, the door was still blocking their passage. Sonic massaged his forehead as the others fell into deep thought.

Tails looked around. All he could see was wreckage, nothing that he could use to break the door down. It was hopeless, one obstacle after another. Eggman just had too many aces up his sleeve. He sat down, feeling frustrated and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure he was just trying to concentrate more or just relax. His sister rubbed the back of his head, hoping to comfort her little brother.

"We need a way to escape and get to Eggman..." Tails thought to himself.

"Son of a hero, lover of good and protector of life.." Came the serene voice again.

"Who are you? And why do you keep calling me that?"

"I am the one, the giver, the one who made you what you are. It is time you took your true place in the world."

"Ando?" Miles questioned.

"Some call me that. Now tell me, what is it that you desire? What would help you save this world from peril?"

Tails thought more for a moment, he then mentally replied,

"If only we had that last chaos emerald."

"My gems of chaos are much sought after throughout the universe. Their powers draw directly from my endless fountains of energy. Summon them Miles."

The fox was baffled. This spirit in his head wasn't making any sense. He answered,

"Me? How can I get the last emerald? That walrus took it from us."

"Where there is a will, there is a way Miles. Don't question it. Just feel it. Feel the gem in your hands. Believe that you can call it from any place directly to you." The voice of Ando instructed.

The fox contorted his face for a moment. This is ridiculous, how could he, just a plain and ordinary fox, make a gem appear. His desire for it never waned. He imagined it now, its pristine cut edged reflecting the light surrounding it. Glowing amber light beaming from the endless energy trapped within. It was warm and comforting, as if directly instructing his heart that all would be well as long as he believed.

"TAILS! What are you...how did you do that?!"

Sonic's voice was shocked. Tails re-opened his eyes and gasped. The seventh emerald was resting in his hands. It glowed in anticipation, as the surrounding onlookers looked upon it in amazement.

"I...I don't know. Some voice inside me told me that I could do this. I really don't understand. Chaos mechanics don't really explain teleportation..."

"Isn't it obvious little bro?" Sonic asked. Tails shook his head back.

"You can control chaos energy, just like me. Don't you remember that little machine back in your lab you built to read my chaos signature?"

"Yeah"

"It was giving another reading. It was you little bro. You also have the ability!"

Lisa, who was still standing behind her brother was beaming with pride. She added to Sonic's statement,

"I always knew there was something special about Mile's. he's always been a very bright and brave boy."

Tail's blushed slightly. He was glad to have his sister back. But now was the time. They had one chance to stop Eggman. Sonic closed his eyes and held his hands out. The room began to fill with a bright, golden light. Then, six gems appeared in a semi-circle around the blue hedgehog. There was a gap in the circle. Tails knew what to do. The amber gem was thrown up towards the circle, it glowed brightly like its sibling's and then it united, the group spinning around Sonic. His quills, already smoldering with flowing golden energy turned bright yellow and lifted as if a strong gust of wind was blowing from beneath the hedgehog. Super Sonic was was back and he opened his orange eyes to look at his best friend.

"Come on Tails. We do this together. She might be your blood sister, but I am your big brother, and we will stick together till the end."

Lisa and Annie nodded anxiously at Tails, urging him to go. Tails stepped forward. Sonic held the palms of his hands outwards and Tails placed his own hands against them.

The transformation felt a lot like taking a hot shower. Tails felt his head immediately go warm with the energy rapidly traveling down towards his feet. His fur turned sun bright yellow and was swirling with raw chaos energy. He closed his eyes for a moment. They had turned from bright blue to a reddish orange that matched Sonic's. But the most impressive aspect of his transformation were the three small birds that fluttered around him. One caught his eye and said,

"We are the Flickies, we will serve and protect you Miles Prower"

And so it was. Tails had transformed into Turbo Tails. He and Sonic were both now were ready to stop Eggman. But first, they needed a plan. And Lisa, was the first to produce one.

"Sonic, just break us into the control room. From there, we can contact the leaders of both armies and put a stop to all of this. You and Tails then need to go and deal with Robotnik personally. He still has a large army and Metal Sonic waiting at the forest edge."

Sonic smiled and gave her a solid thumbs up.

"I knew that Tail's brains had to run in the family. Lets do it!"

Like a knife through butter, Sonic tore through the series of bulkheads the blocked the hallways that lead from the roboticizer room to the control room.

"You guys made it! It's about freaking time! GET ME OUT OF THIS NOW!"

Amy Rose was both glad and angry. Tails broke her bonds and she immediately rushed to hug Sonic.

"Whoa! Easy Amy! I CAN'T BREATH!"

Still in super form, Sonic was able to teleport a few inches away, leaving Amy grasping at empty air. The pink hedgehog looked crossed at him, the words were at the edge of her lips before Tails said,

"We all can figure this out later. We've gotta get going! Think you can figure out Eggman's machinery?"

Lisa, Amy and Annie all nodded reassuringly at him. Tails gave one last hug to his sister before facing Sonic again. They held their palms together and with a bright flash of chaos energy, they disappeared.


	13. Chapter 13: The Battle of NeoDoria

Chapter 13: The Battle of Neo-Doria

Dawn was approaching fast. Private Sam tipped the brooch of his helmet up. Being a coyote from from Menz, many miles south of his position, he felt very ill equipped for what was expected to come. The soldier glanced behind himself to again see the splendor of the yet to be touched Mobotropolis. He knew that he wasn't the only that hadn't slept that night, most of the residents who didn't take up arms had fled the city. The windows of its many white stone buildings were nailed shut. Would this be the last time he would see the sunrise upon the riverside city?

Sam tried not to think or talk about it, something that annoyed the other guys in his squad. There were two of them right next to him in his trench, both muttering about what they will do when "those blood sucking furless scoundrels" finally came this way. Private Sam had a talent for noticing things. The sarge had come by yesterday distributing rockets. These were large, green painted tubes that according to him, could blast the front off a human tank. The coyote soldier really had no idea, but he could sense that the leaders anticipated a very large armored attack on his position. Something he doubted that even the hand of Ando could stop, much less a rocket launcher.

He glanced across the Dorian planes again. Still no signs of any approaching enemies. He could make out the shapes of bunkers tucked into nitches of the plan that rolled. Sam knew that they were out there, they were just waiting for the right time to come and end it all. He looked now down the trench to see that one of his comrades was still snoozing. Sam trotted over to wake him.

This soldier's black uniform was at least two sizes too large for him. It was a green hedgehog that Sam reckoned to be no older then ten. Though it was true that Mobians aged far quicker than humans, the minimum age for service in the MSF was twelve. Sam was certain that in the scramble to get as many troops as possible onto the battlefield, headquarters did a less than thorough background check on this lad. The coyote still tried and when pressing the hedgehog to admit to lying, he said something that still rang in Sam's ears,

"If the humans are really starting this war to kill us all, does it really matter if I die fighting here or later while hiding in my home?"

The kid had guts, Sam felt. Probably more then the rest of his squad combined. He couldn't help it but remember Sonic. The blue hero rarely visited his hometown of Menz, but the times he did would always lift up the city. If you charge running towards your problems fast enough, you wouldn't have enough time to worry about them.

They hadn't heard anything from Sonic, it was as if he had disappeared. Sam only hoped that his leaders were right about the hedgehog showing up at the moment when he is truly needed. The teenage Mobian woke up with just a tap to his shoulder. It seemed as though he had been half asleep, expecting the cowardly humans to attack them in the night.

"S-Sorry" He muttered in a somewhat high pitched voice. Sam shrugged it off and turned to return to his little niche of the trench. A heart wrenching, high pitched howl caused him and the rest of squad to hit the dirt. The noise repeated itself several times, causing the coyote to squirm and cover his ears as best he could. Finally, it receded slightly and the soldier decided to poke his head back up. He looked to the sky and saw the source of the noise, four sleek black jets had flown over them at high altitude. Already, they were deploying their chaff countermeasures as Mobian missiles were screaming towards the, trying knock the menaces out of the sky.

Sam would have cheered, but the rockets in the sky weren't just from the anti-air batteries of Mobotropolis. One came screaming down towards his segment of the line.

"Everyone down!" Screamed a voice.

Sam again slammed his body to the ground. It felt as though the very earth was breaking apart. The air thrashed and groaned in torment. He no longer cared for life, all he wanted was for the horrific explosion to end. This finally happened. The private didn't want to get up again, sensing that this explosion wouldn't be the last, but the voice of the squad sergeant called his troops back to their senses.

"Rifles and rockets at the ready! Here they come boys!"

Sam looked over the edge back to valley that had previously looked so tranquil. There they were, too many to count. From this distance, they looked like daggers, like the one that Sam had tucked into his boot at the moment. They were painted deep gray, with black spots. Camouflage though Sam did not think it was possible to hide such monsters within the beauty of the natural world. They had no wheels, but hovered with a small jet system that their forefathers had brought with them to Mobius long ago. Yet the feature that concerned him most was at the very tip of the vehicle. There were three large cannons, capable of launching shells that could pierce three feet of solid earth.

Sam looked around at the walls of his earthen trench and felt he would have been better off just fighting above ground. Perhaps being in here would make easier for the survivors to bury his and his comrade's remains.

The soldier sighed and gave up with reason. It was always the first thing to leave the mind of any soldier in a battle. And a battle was now upon this private. The assault on Mobotropolis had begun.

Also on the battleground, in a position of less danger yet of greater importance, was General Brashen. Deep below the council building in Mobotropolis was his command center. It was a secret complex, built at great expense near the end of the last war. He knew that most Mobian politicians would be outraged if they found out cost of maintaining it. Yet today, the old general was glad he had kept this place, burying the costs deep into the black budget, something that had drawn a lot of criticism. The heart of this complex was the circular command room that he and the other commanders of the Mobian Security Force occupied.

Buried under twenty feet of solid rock, powered by two fusion powercores used in modern Mobian sea cruisers and equipped with months of provisions, Brashen knew that his headquarters could survive and outlast any human attack. His race may be outnumbered by the savages from earth, but they would never be without leadership or pride.

Yet the robustness of the facility was not enough to distinguish it from others, in the pinnacle of the command room stood tactical data visualizer. He often heard some of the techs refer to it as the TDV. This was another toy he cherished as it provided the old general with the most prized weapons of all, information. Weapons and soldiers were useless if commanders knew not where and when to use them. General Brashen learned this the hard way the last war, a particular incident came to mind, yet he knew he had not the time to revisit it.

The projector was holographic and could accurately display the realistic terrain of any place of planet Mobius. The data was also real time, being fed by the dozens of satellites orbiting the planet now. Brashen focused on what his staff officers were panicking over. The hologram showed the rolling hills of Doria, being trampled by three columns of Type III Terran Venom Tanks.

"Two hundred of the armored craft are spearheading an assault on gold sector." The voice of Brashen's XO called out. He was a crocodile, rather short for his species with slight limp. Brashen reacted to this expected event,

"So Cobald is doing exactly what I expected him to do. The old fool... Are the fighters ready?"

"Yes sir!" A red and blue Mobian falcon with the rank insignia of republic air marshal had spoken up. Despite the recent air strike of the humans on the northern airfields, the proud air force of the Mobian Republic was far from defeated. And chief among these war planes was the sky hawk. A nimble plane with a wing span of just ten feet and a powerful laser that could cut a straight through human armor like a surgeon opening up a patient. The humans would get their bitter taste or war.

"Order the strike air marshal. There is no turning back now."

Brashen's aged voice rang through the ears of the officers and techs in the room. The falcon approached the nearby communications console to relay the his commander's order. The commanding bulldog returned his gaze to the battlefield. What he was still uncomfortable with was the vulnerable infantry. He had ordered a line of defense trenches be built at the last minute around the city. His hope was to deter small skirmishes into the city with a network of earthworks. But now, these soldiers in their trenches would be subject to the full furry of the approaching venom tanks. It was too late to order them away, the General could only hope that swift destruction of the attacking armored column from the air would reduce the amount casualties. The air marshal who was previously hovering over a tech's shoulder came quickly back to the the circle of officers that included Brashen. His eye were wide and their was a hint of panic in his raspy voice,

"General, we are unable to reach the airbases. All comm channels are locked out."

Brashen growled and replied,

"So the humans are jamming our communications, follow protocol and use the backup lines."

This seemed so trivial. The bulldog knew the humans would try and harass his forces with a series of cyber attacks. He was glad that his people had planned for this.

"Those are jammed too sir. And whats funny is that intelligence reports that the human channels are experiencing a similar jam. General, they are all broadcasting an identical signal, a video feed."

Brashen felt his face tense up. His forces had no capability of creating a complete blackout of all communication. Neither did the humans. Whoever was doing this, had a grasp of science that was yet to be realized.

"Put it up on the main screen."

A tech manning one of the consoles along the wall leaned over to flip a switch. The screen that was previously showing layout of troop deployments morphed to something startlingly different. Against a backdrop of solid black, they both stood. One fox and one human girl. The fox was speaking and everyone in the command room paused to watch and listen.

Lisa Prower felt her heart racing. It had done that a lot lately. Running away from home, being kidnapped by goons in Novus Spes, escaping from a prison cell and now, speaking to the world. Beside her was her new friend, Annie Cobald. She was also shaking and her skin appeared to be paler than usual. They clung together and looked at the camera, which was being operated by Amy. Lisa spoke,

"People of Mobius, both peace loving Mobians and the proud warriors of the United Terran Families. Please hear this call to truth. We have all lived in the shadow of fear, on the edge of cataclysm. Many decades of uneasy peace have passed. I know that many differences lie between us. We have different ideas about how to live life. But I see a different fate for us, something other than the grave. We can overcome the madness of mutually assured destruction."

Lisa paused to catch her breath and let the words sink in. It also took a few moments for the right words to come to mind. Yet she resumed her desperate plea with a explanation,

"Over the past few years, we both have been under the threat of the Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Thankfully, this crazy man has been held in check by Sonic the Hedgehog. His crimes against Mobians, Humans and the natural world are enough for our peoples to unite against. He has fooled all of us up until now. He is the force behind the war that you both are prepared to fight. He is the one who kidnapped the my friend Annie. Over the past two weeks, we have both worked together, united to stopping Eggman for destroying this world. I couldn't ask for a closer friend."

Lisa's last words were stuffed with raw emotion. And as she fought the urge to cry, Annie took over.

"Father! I know you are watching this. You always told me that the Mobians were savages. You are wrong, they are more like us then you could possibly imagine. You once told me that ignorance was the greatest enemy anyone can ever face. Well you are facing it now. Ivo Robotnik is the savage and he waits now to wipe us all out. See for yourself."

Amy moved the camera to focus on the large screens on the wall of Eggman's headquarters. His legions of robots. From massive titan bots to the small, combat bots were arrayed. All of them were ready for battle in the great forest south of Doria. Among them, was the skulking figure of Metal Sonic, the champion of the Eggman Army.

Brashen gasped at this image. He was hoping this was all a hoax, a fake, something to distract him while Cobald smashed his undefended lines. But another teach across the room who dealt with tactical data yelled out,

"General! Our sensors have confirmed that a large army is indeed hiding within the woods."

Eggman was full of tricks. The general knew this. And he made a mistake in treating the mad scientist as just a minor rogue terrorist instead of the threat to life that he really was. The human had a never ending pool of technology, from space stations to hidden armies. He now knew what to do,

"Get me Grand Imperator Cobald on the line! NOW!"

Confusion was an understatement for the status of his unit. The proud commander of a tank of the Armor Corps of Soleanna had lost control of the entire column. The strange transmission had black out their ability to coordinate and communicate amongst themselves. Most of the gray and black tanks had stopped dead in their tracks, waiting for further orders. Now, some of the crewmen had climbed out of their tanks and were running back and forth trying to re-organize the group and carry on with their attack.

"We are sitting ducks! Just go onwards, the rest will follow when they realize whats happening." He ordered his driver, who nodded and manipulated the controls to move the war machine forward.

"Any word from HQ?" He asked the radio operator.

"The lines are starting to clear up. There is a lot of confused chatter. I'm still trying to get through sir" The boy answer in a deep pitched voice.

The commander now moved though the cramped compartment to heave the hatch of his battle tank open. Outside, there was fresh air and the clear light of the newly risen sun. The man was pleased to see that the armored column had indeed followed his lead. They were once again screaming towards the lines defending Mobotropolis. The furries were doomed. He was staring intently at the white towers of the city ahead of him when a flash of golden light blinded his unprotected eyes.

There were two of them, golden and hovering in midair with waves of raw chaos energy swirling about them. Sonic and Tails had finally arrived. The commander felt his tank halt and all three cannons released a volley at their new obstacles. Sonic charge forward at the shells and in midair the collided with another blinding flash. The human warrior re-opened his eyes to see the hedgehog hovering directly in front of him. He panicked and fumbling for his sidearm, but Sonic cracked a smile and said,

"Relax buddy, I think you have a lot more important things to worry about."

The hedgehog pointed to the right flank of the armored column and there, he was the largest army of robots that neither Sonic nor any human warrior had ever seen. The tank's radio tech called from beneath his commander,

"Sir. HQ has ordered us to disengage the from the Mobian lines and instead, to annihilate the Eggman army."

Was this really happening? He never knew but he gave a nod to the glowing yellow hedgehog and climbed back into his tank to direct his force towards the new threat.

Tails felt as though white hot flames were spewing through his veins. It wasn't really painful, just intense, like a really strong massage. He felt taller, stronger and faster then he ever had in his life. The power infused fox also realized that he was floating, not by the use of his twin tails, but by the chaos energy flowing through him.

He squinted his eyes several times. He could clearly see the first ranks of Eggman's charging armies. Yet they were almost a mile a away. Tails noted that this too must be another power to go along with his super form. Just then, Sonic returned to his side. They both nodded at each other.

"They're with us, and I think our people are also going to join on the fight. How do you feel?"

Tails wanted to answer, but couldn't. His mind was still filled with questions as he was so unfamiliar with his new powers. Sonic could automatically sense this and answered the silent fox,

"Just follow your heart little bro. You will know what to do when you need to do it."

Tails looked up at the hedgehog wondered out loud,

"How do ya' know that?"

Sonic smiled and said,

"It what I've done all my life, and it has never lead me wrong. Lets go!"

Tails' chest surged with excitement. He knew what to do now and in unison, the two heroes charged forward to the oncoming Eggman minions. Not far behind, was the united forces of the five ruling human families and the Mobian Security Forces.

Doctor Robotnik was scowling. Though he was safely perched in his war machine with a panoramic view of the battlefield, he was thoroughly disgusted. He ground his teeth in eternal frustration. Frustration caused by the thorn that pierced his side no matter how hard he tried to scrape it off.

Sonic, and his kindergarten cohorts had foiled him yet again. It seemed as though no matter how hard he schemed, every plan that he had executed to bring the change he wanted with this world had utterly failed. All because of the blue hedgehog who could run at the speed of sound. Before him was yet another plunge into the abyss of defeat. His plans to effortlessly demolish the two competing factions of this planet were lost, his principle headquarters was destroyed and the only working prototype of the roboticizer is no more. Eggman knew that he was a ruined man, ruined because Sonic's heroics moved at a faster pace than his supreme brain.

Despair and self pity became quickly tiresome and Eggman opened his eyes back up. He had ordered them all, from small worker drone to mighty titan bot to attack. He would go down in a blaze of glory, and take as many of the wretched fools down with him as possible. And than, then he would use his final prize to seal the fate of this world. He held it in his fat hands. The product of a fox he had foolishly underestimated, the golden power ring.

It was a shame, Eggman reckoned, that he did not have much time to analyze it. No matter, it would be used properly on this apocalyptic battlefield. The compartment of the cramped pilot's chamber of his Egg Widget slide open. Eggman knew who it was and he got up off his seat to look at him for one last time. Metal's eyes beamed anxiously at his master before they slipped to behold the golden power ring.

"There you are unit 002. I trust my forces are proceeding to eliminate the foes of the Eggman Empire?"

The deadly electronic voice instantly responded,

"They are attacking as you order great master. They have been deployed in formation to maximize tactical advantage. Though I caution your graciousness that this army was not built to encounter both Human and Mobian forces at the same time."

Doctor Robotnik waved off what he already knew what was true. There was no point in dwelling on it further. Instead he said,

"Unlock your power core unit 002."

"For what purpose master?"

"Just do it!"

Eggman's coarse words echoes through the tiny compartment, and Metal obeyed. With a sharp hiss, the plate guarding the robot's chest moved downward to reveal the incredibly complex machinery hidden inside. The fat man was not discouraged by this. He had wrought this robot with his own bare hands, he would now, finally unleash a capability in this creation which he wished he had done long ago. In the center of the chest was the hot core of the tiny cold fusion reaction core that Eggman had placed there to power Metal Sonic. Above it though was another core, one which had been empty. He opened it, the chamber glowed a light blue, but was empty. It was the size of a chaos emerald, because that was what it was designed to carry. But since Robotnik lacked a gem of chaos, he placed the power ring inside instead.

He shut the compartment and immediately felt a surge of energy pulse through the air. The mad scientist surveyed his robot warrior. Its eyes were glowing again and vibrant red, immediately, Metal lifted his chin to face his creator. The two's eyes met and bore into each other, as if they were engaged in an epic staring battle. But Metal wanted to place himself above this and left his words unspoken. The robot, now infused with almost limitless energy left the Egg Saucer and stepped foot out on the soft ground of Doria.

Eggman, glad to have Metal out of his ship took up his seat in the cockpit. He maneuvered the ship off of the ground. The supreme commander of the Eggman Empire was ready to lead his troops in person with his new flagship aided by his new super weapon. Doctor Robotnik looked down at the terrain below his hovering ship and frowned. Metal Sonic was still standing below the craft. He tapped the comm button and shouted,

"Metal! What are you doing!? Attack! Destroy Sonic!"

Silence. It was as if Metal never heard his words. This was something new to Eggman, who had never experienced disobedience from his own creations. Was he malfunctioning? Eggman watched the blue robot for another few mind wrenching seconds before the creature turned to face it master. Then suddenly, a horrific white flash blinded Robotnik as it permeated his cockpit with the light of a hundred super novas. He looked down again to see Metal now hovering directly in front of him at eye level facing the cockpit canopy. He was glowing fiery orange, the raw heat causing the robot to appear more as blur rather then a solid object. Eggman felt excited for a moment. Certainly this new weapon of his would crush Sonic, even in super form. But the voice of the fiery orange blur crushed those hopes,

"For too long I have allowed your foolishness to cause failure after failure. How can a flesh-ling hope to create an Empire of perfection when the creator of that vision is himself imperfect. You are finished Ivo Robotnik. I am now in charge and you will obey."

Eggman gritted his teeth in rage. Rage like he had not felt even when facing Sonic. His hands instantly fell to the controls of his weapon system. But Metal pre-empted his former master. The blast hit the Egg Saucer with devastating force. It was ball, with the destructive power of a star from the sky, slammed into the canopy. The squeal of burning metal and stressed electronics shattered through the air as Eggman physically and mentally braced himself through this brutal attack.

He was lucky this time. Built into his craft was a powerful shield to guard against chaos energy attacks. It was very expensive to craft, and from the readings of his gauges, it was completely fried now. But the other weapon systems of the Egg Saucer survived the attack. Eggman could no longer see Metal hovering in front of him. His sensors reported that the rouge robot was now rushing to the front lines with a large entourage of his now renegade army. Ahead, Robotnik could see the transformed glowing shapes of Super Sonic and Turbo Tails. As he moved his craft to join in the battle, Eggman started to think. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if Sonic won this round after all.

Like the edge's of two swords, the armies of the Eggman Empire and the United Terran Families met at the southern end of Doria. Each side unleashed their opening salvo, a volley of shells from the tanks and deadly lasers from robots roared towards their targets. Massive balls of fire, some from the exploding chassis of robots or tanks, some from new craters in the ground splashed through the air. Visibility for the soldiers on this once clear day sank to near zero.

Yet the two heroes in the fray weren't affected by the realities of the mortal world. They were charging through the chaotic ranks of the Eggman army. Sonic was smashing through metal life water splashing through flour. Their wreckage was crushing into the ground by the human tanks following closely behind their new champion. Tails was also breaking through the ranks. His glowing yellow flickies departed from his side to break through the chests of the hundreds of sentry bots that were blasting at his invincible form. Yet despite their seemingly inevitable victory on this battlefield, Tails was missing the true source of all this carnage. He searched for Eggman, whom he knew must be lurking around here somewhere.

Like an eagle, he felt his enhanced eye's zero in on the madman. He was guarded in some new flying craft that the fox had never seen him use before. Still, his new powers filled him with confidence, and taking Sonic's advice, he followed his heart and charged forward to meet the foe of life. As Tails propelled across the the field at sub sonic speed, he heard the roar of thunder. Diving from high altitude, the aviator fox instantly recognized that the W shaped planes of the Mobian Airforce. This fight, he knew, was over for the Eggman.

With stunning accuracy, their missiles slammed straight into the side of the craft, sending it crashing into the ground. The planed soared past the smoking wreck in triumph heading to knock more kills to rival their human rivals. Tails still continued towards the ruined ship.

When the fox arrived, he found Eggman had indeed survived. His scarlet red overcoat was stained black with soot. The fat man was hunched over, coughing up what Tails believed to be blood. Eggman noticed Tails and stood back up to face him. He quickly held his hands out and in a call for mercy he said,

"Tails...look I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you or your sister. I just wanted to build something great."

The fox bared his teeth in disgust as he looked down at the pathetic man in front of him. His anger was at a breaking point, but he still managed to control it and answered Eggman's plea,

"You never learn do you? Your actions, no matter what their intentions are have consequences Doctor Robotnik. It's time to put an end to the terror you have reaped upon this planet."

Tails was now moving closer to Robotnik. The man was now panicking and started to cover his head as though an attack was inevitable. He cried out another desperate plea,

"No no no, please Tails. What would Sonic say, what would your sister say. Surely you have some pity on a poor, helpless old man like me..."

Tail's stopped and smiled. His innocent laugh startled Eggman and he finally answered,

"Do you really think that I'm going to kill you? No Eggman. I wouldn't stoop to your level. It is time though that you answer to the world for your crimes."

Just then, the tanks that had been trailing the chaos infused fox had finally caught up. Their vehicles screeched to a halt and several humans, wearing the maroon tunics of Cobald's elite fighting corps grabbed Eggman, their new prisoner. Tails watched them carrier him away with satisfaction until the same familiar voice called from inside his head.

"The greatest threat to life is still at large. Find and help Sonic before all is lost."

Tails was puzzled by this new message from Ando. Eggman was captured and unable to harm anyone else. What was out there now that Sonic couldn't handle in super form. Tails decided not to question it further, he followed his instincts and sped now in the direction that he felt Sonic had to be in.

Sonic was still hard at work. He was near the front of a column of battle tanks that he knew to be from the kingdom of Soleanna. Three titans bots and several hundred smaller sentry bots had not stopped them as the sliced their the Eggman battle lines. But just as Sonic was blasting through the torso of another large Titan bot, another, larger explosion wracked the violent air around him. Sonic turned to find that three human battle tanks in ruins, surrounded by charred grass and disfigured earth.

The transformed yellow hero rushed to the side of a wounded soldier. The man, still in his teens was bleeding profusely from his right temple. An injury that would most likely be fatal, but the hedgehog was determined to prevent that. Sonic placed his hand over the gaping wound and instantly felt warmth flowing through his veins and into his hand. The man cried out but was quickly silenced. He readjusted his to find himself looking at the compassionate eyes of Sonic and then noticed that a new layer of flash had grown to cover the wound in his head. Unexplainable healed, he wanted to thank the hedgehog, but Sonic was again in the air. Another being, the cause of the horrific attack on this armored company was floating directly in front of the hedgehog.

"The age of the flesh-lings has drawn to a close, Sonic the Hedgehog!" rang the power amplified voice of Metal Sonic.

The real Sonic chuckled and commented,

"Like the new look buddy. I'm glad Eggman has given you some upgrades, because last time it was just too easy."

Annoyance pulsed through the circuits of the robotic Sonic, but it knew it's new advantage and announced,

"Its time that we settle this once and for all. This time, I will destroy you."

And like two bolts of lightning, both adversaries slammed towards each other with all speed possible. Another bright flash blinded the battlefield as another horrific blast announced the clash of both Sonic. Yet they were both unable to do any damage and instead, bounced off of each other like rubber balls on pavement. The surviving human warriors had finished destroying the local Eggman robots and had all joined in watching the duel at what they mistakenly believed to be a safe distance.

Metal was the first to recover from the impact and he levitated to a height of ten meters before he unleashed a fury of white balls of raw chaos energy directly at the live hedgehog. But Sonic never lost his edge and instead took of at mach 1, dodging the balls with stunning agility. Each shot hit the crust of Mobius, sending up a large plumes of molten rock. Sonic now went on the offensive jumping high into the air. He curled into a ball and his instincts directed a homing attack at the floating Metal robot with raw power.

Again, the air flashed violently and both combatants found themselves again unscathed. Being the first to accept what seemed a stalemate, Metal growled,

"So it seems Sonic that our powers are too great for each other, perhaps we could..."

"Give up! Because he's not alone!"

The voice was behind him, but Metal didn't react in time to stop the flickies that were now enveloping him in righteous fury. Metal fell to the ground while the two tailed fox hovered over him. It didn't take long for him to recover, Metal's chest glowed orange still and several balls of raw energy were levied at him. Tails dodged them one by one, every attacked but the last one missed its mark. Yet the last and lucky shot of the robot caused the fox to tumble to the ground.

He quickly felt himself and was relieved to still be free of injury. But he, like Sonic realized that this fight would not end as easily as they hoped. He had to find a weakness. Metal had freed himself of the flickies and was again levitating above the two heroes and proudly shouted,

"Defeated by your own creation Miles Prower! The power ring within me has provided me with the means to finally achieve victory, the machines of this world will now rise behind me! I want you to know that it was your invention that brought your own demise."

"That's it!"

Tails thought to himself.

"The power ring! I was the last one to touch it so..."

The fox felt new determination surge through his body. He held his hand out, as if reaching through an invisible force field. He felt now, through a sixth sense, the presence of the ring inside Metal Sonic. The ring was indeed synchronized with his chaos signature, his theory was right and he was glad to be the last one to touch the object.

"What are you doing Tails?" Sonic called out in confusion. The hedgehog was clearly trying to see a way through this hopeless situation. But the look on his best friend's face caused him to panic, it was like the fox was trying to move a two ton bolder.

Tails was focusing it. All his energy and strength on the object in front of him.

"Come on, come on" he muttered.

The hovering Metal Sonic was oblivious and saw this as a sign of weakness. With victory clearly in his sight, he launched a new volley directly at the outstretched fox. As the balls roared to their destination, the soft voice whispered

"Protector of life..."

He was no longer stand on the ground but in the air directly in front of Metal Sonic. Tails blinked his eyes again to see his hands, directly in the chest of his foe, grasping the power ring. The object was glowing, but it got brighter and brighter as its owner now grasped it. Then suddenly, the desired reaction occurred. Chaos control destroyed all around it.


	14. Chapter 14: An Intermission

Chapter 14: An Intermission

"Hey Amy, can you grab the oven mitts?"

The room was bright, but dirty and unkempt from much neglect. Yet Amy Rose kept searching through empty drawers and cabinets for the non existent insulators.

"It doesn't look he has any." The female hedgehog announced. Lisa sighed and then grabbed the hand towel she was had just used to whip off the dust from the counter. From within the oven, she removed a massive, golden brown pie.

"Wow Amy, this turned out really well." Lisa proclaimed. Amy smiled smugly and remarked,

"Nobody can beat Amy's famous pork pot pie."

"I'm surprised we could make it. Miles doesn't have anything that would make this kitchen even remotely useful. No wonder he's so thin..."

Lisa and Amy carried the pie into an empty dining room. Amy immediately pouted while claiming aloud,

"Those stupid boys! Where did they go? We made this dinner just for them and they have to go run off."

"Maybe they went down to the workshop, I know that MSF was able to find his plane and bring it back here. Lets go check."

"And so the voice told me to focus on the emerald and then all of the sudden, it appeared right in my hands." Boomed the small voice of Tails in the large room. He and Professor Varda where standing at the edge of his workshop.

"That's certainly remarkable Tails, it's unlike anything I would have ever predicted. I think we may have to re-invent the whole theory of chaos mechanics all together."

Tails smiled and nodded. He then added,

"Things should get really quiet around here now. So I'd love to help you professor."

"Yes, well with Eggman's trial and the signing of the new peace treaty between the Republic and the Terran Families, we should finally get a little peace and quite."

"Not until you get me fixed darling Tails!" cut in a sharp voice. The fox felt his cheeks redden as he turned to see the image of Fiona on the screen.

"I'll get on it as soon as possible Fiona, but I've gotta thaw it first."

In the center of the hanger was the red biplane frozen in a massive block of ice, recovered from the tundra of Whitocropolis. Tails went over to adjust the space heaters that he had spread out around the block. Soon, he knew that his beloved plane would be ice free and back in the sky. Another voice echoed through the underground hanger,

"Tails! Where are you?"

"Over here Amy!" he called back.

The pink hedgehog along with his sister found him next to the Tornado. Amy looked sternly at Tails and scowled,

"What are you boys doing? You have forever to mess around with your stupid little plane. My pie isn't going to be warm upstairs forever...lets go!"

Tails blinked back at Amy. Though he did feel his tummy growl with the mention of food. He and Varda would be able to continue this after some well needed nourishment. All four them began heading to the lift at the end of the room.

Lisa glanced at her brother affectionately,

"Silly baby brother, without me around, I think you really would starve to death."

They both laughed but were immediately silenced when Amy yelled out again,

"Where's Sonic?!"

Tails answered,

"Oh uh, well Amy, he's not one for having a long sit down sort of dinner. he's usually more in the mood for lets say a 'fast' food"

Amy let out another wail, this one in pure frustration. Sonic the Hedgehog had managed once again to avoid her. Tails now had a feeling that things may not be so peaceful after all.

Sonic felt the breeze brushing past his face and quills. Trees and boulders zipped past him as he ran through the valley at the speed of sound. It was something better than food or women, it was excitement. He jumped over another pit and dodged a large stone that was tumbling down from a nearby cliff.

Another week, another victory. Sonic smiled. He was finally propelling himself up the side of a large slope in the Sur mountains. He looked around again to see that nobody was around. The hedgehog quickly reached the summit of the peak and sat down to relax. Directly in front of him he could see them. To his right was the crisp low skyline of Mobotropolis. A city he knew had much to celebrate and to his left, the evening sun hung over Narbo, the capital of Cobald's realm. Yet he knew the sun would not over that city much longer as night was so close. And when it rose again, the city would take on its new name of Station Square. A new era had indeed arrived, one that would need heroes more than ever.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for reading. I hope you have enjoyed my first story and would love to hear any feedback. I am currently hard at work writing the sequel/epic that this story was meant to setup. **

**Preview:**

**A discover is made on the moon of mobius. One which will shock the world and perhaps, bring its inhabitants closer together. Yet this mission does not have the blessings of all, and the discovery team goes missing. Tails, Lisa and several other, surprising accomplices join to find the fate of the team and the truth of the origins of Mobians. Yet the tranquility after of the battle of neo doria does not remain, as a mysterious and deadly assassin commits to whiping Mobius of all heroes. Can Sonic and Knuckles stop this killer in time? Will Tails and co make it back home alive? It is all here, in my mind. The story that has me tapping this keyboard. Till next, keep on running!  
**


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